
Class. 
Book. 






{)P)Tiglil X^ 



C0PYRK;HT DliPOSlT. 



NEBUCHADNEZZAR^S IMAGE 

The World Power Trampling the Earth Beneath Its Feet for Ages, 



Popery,one" horn 
Growing out of Rome 
The 4th beast. ^ 





Mohammedanism, other 
horn, \iirowing out of 
dr^eceVThe 3rd beast. 



C H R I S^T/S kingdom universal to cover 
"the whole /earth / 



Hand-book of Prophecy^ 



CONTAINING 



A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE PROPHECIES OF 
DANIEL AND JOHN, 



TOGETHER WITH 



A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SECOND ADVENT. 



BY 



JAMES STACY, D,D., 

Presbyterian Minister, Newnan, Georgia. 



We have a more sure word of prophecy."— 2 Peter 1. 19. 



RICHMOND : 

Presbyterian Committee of Publication. 




■^fe^ dashes i«fi9*v«S 
OCT d 1903 



Ll«!J).Jlimig). IM I «..nn 



COPYRIGHTED 

BY 

JAMES STACY, NEWNAN, GA. 

1906. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Inteoduction, 9 

Principles of Interpretation, 10 

PART I. 

CHAPTER I.— Daniel's Peophecies, 13 

First Vision, — (Dan. ii. 31-35,) — ^An Image, ]4 

Second Vision, — (Dan. vii. 1-14,) — Four Beasts, 14 

Third Vision,— (Dan. viii. 1-14,)— Ram and He Goat,. . IG 

Summary — Four Great Empires, 22 

CHAPTER II.— Peophecies of John, 



^o 



General Plan, 24 

Seven Seals, 24 

Interpretation of Symbols^ 25 

Sealing of the 144,000, 29 

Trumpets, 30 

First Trumpet, 30 

Second Trumpet, 31 

Third Trumpet, 31 

Fourth Trumpet, 32 

Woe Trumpets, 32 

Fifth Trumpet,— (First Wee Trumpet,) 33 

Sixth Trumpet, — (Second Woe Trumpet,) 34 

A Pause, 35 

The Little Book,— (The Reformation,) 35 

Slaying of the Witnesses, 36 

Second Great Earthquake, 37 

Seventh Trumpet,— (Third Woe Trumpet,) 38 

Third Great Woe, 38 

Wonder in Heaven, 39 

The Red Dragon, — ( Rome Pagan, ) 40 

First Beast, — (Rome Christian,) 41 

Second Beast, — (Rome Papal,) 43 

Image of the Beast, 43 

Number of the Name, 46 

Seven Last Plagues, 48 



CONTENTS, . > 

First Vial, 48 

Second Vial, 49 

Third Vial, 50 

Fourth Vial, 50 

Fifth Vial, 51 

Sixth Vial, 51 

Battle of Armageddon, 52 

Three Unclean Spirits, 52 

Seventh Vial, 54 

Babylon^ 54 

Description of the Prophecy, 55 

The Man of Sin, 55 

Lamentation Over the Fall, 66 

Destruction of Remaining Enemies, 67 

Binding of Satan, 68 

The Millennium, 68 

Satan Loosed, 70 

Battle of Gog and Magog, 70 

Resurrection and Judgment, 71 

The Heavenly City, 71 

CHAPTER III. 

How Much Fulfilled, 72 

When Shall These Things Be ? 73 

Abomination of Desolation, 76 

Beginning of Prophetic Periods, 84 

Concluding Remark, 87 

Practical Lessons, 88 

Prophetic Chart, 93 

Chronological Table, 95 

PART II. 
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

Postmillennialism, 99 

Premillennialism, 99 

Diagram, 103 

I. Number of Comings, 104 

II. Number of Judgments, 107 

III. Number of Resurrections, 113 

IV. Revelation xx. 4-6, 118 

V. Other Considerations, 127 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 



Introduction. 



I PROPOSE, in the following pages, to give a brief 
outline of the prophecies of John, as set forth in 
the book of Revelation, and as usually held by leading 
interpreters. And I am led to do this for the reason that 
there is a great and felt need for just such a work. To 
the masses the Apocalypse is simply a sealed book. They 
read it, if at all, without getting an idea, either as to its 
intention or scope of its teachings. Indeed, many seem 
to think that it is neither possible, nor yet intended, to 
be understood. But if so, why is it termed a "revela- 
tion"? How a revelation with nothing revealed? If not 
to be read and studied, why the benediction pronounced, 
''Blessed is he that readdth, and they that hear the words 
of this prophecy"? If "All scripture is given by inspi- 
ration, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for in- 
struction in righteousness," can there be any reason why 
the prophetical portions should be made the exception? 
As the object of prophecy is twofold, being alike the 
attestation of revelation and the encouragement of God's 
people, we can neither see wherein comes the encourage- 
ment, nor yet how they can be competent witnesses to sit 
in judgment upon this part of the evidence, if they are to 
know nothing about the things predicted, either as to 
their meaning, or the times and terms of their fulfill- 
ment ? 

The duty of investigation is clearly set forth in the 
double challenge: First, in the declaration that these 



lo HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

things are "shortly to come to pass," and secondly, in 
the command "to search the scriptures," which command, 
if it means anything, must mean that we are to search 
every part alike, the prophetical portions as well as the 
epistles or gospels ; and to seek to find out, as far as pos- 
sible, their meaning, how much and wherein fulfilled ; 
and especially is this duty incumbent on us who live in 
these latter days, when we hear so much about the "Mil- 
lennial Dawn," and the second coming of Christ. 

I am fully aware that many wild and extravagant 
notions have been entertained, and fanciful interpreta- 
tions given portions of this book, insomuch as to bring 
discredit upon the whole, and even to reflect upon the 
good sense of any who undertake to unravel its meaning. 
As Dr. South has quaintly said, "The book either finds 
one mad, or else makes him so." But we see no reason 
why we may not apply the same good common sense here 
as elsewhere, accepting what we can understand, and 
leaving undisturbed what is clearly beyond our depth. 
As in the entire realm of nature, there is a part we can 
understand, where nature reveals herself, and a part 
wholly incomprehensible, where she refuses thus to inter- 
pret; so in the domain of prophecy there is a part en- 
tirely -comprehensible because self-interpreted by its own 
fulfillment, and a part still wrapped in profound mys- 
tery for lack of such interpretation. We rejoice in the 
light of the one ; before the darkness and obscurity of the 
other we can only bow in humble silence and await 
further light and development. 

Principles of Interpretation. 

To form any true conception of the book of Revela- 
tion, or to get anything like a satisfactory view of its 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. ii 

teachings, it is necessary ever to bear in mind the follow- 
ing things : 

1. That prophecy is intended only as a general outline 
or rough picture of coming events. The prophetic periods 
are seldom if ever clearly defined, but, like the rainbow 
hues, are so gradually blended into each other that it be- 
comes ofttimes impossible to tell where the one period 
ends and the other begins. Besides, there is purposely 
cast over the whole more or less obscurity, and for the 
reason that if the thing were made unmistakably plain be- 
forehand, man might be tempted to thwart the purpose. 

2. The hook is highly symbolic in its character, its 
nomenclature being made up of the boldest figures and 
emblems. Thus, under the guise of an earthquake, it 
speaks of a revolution or moral upheaval. It makes a 
battle, stand for a conflict 'of principle, the chaining of an 
evil spirit for the restraining of its influence and power. 
So the darkening of the sun and moon, and blotting out 
of the stars, is but the symbolic overthrow of human gov- 
ernments and kingly authority. 

3. It is equally well to remember that a great deal of 
the imagery employed is intended simply as drapery to 
ail out the picture. Just as in the case of the parables, we 
are only to look for the general teaching or leading truth. 
To force every part to mean something will only be to 
"darken counsel with words," and obscure the truth, as 
the sun, with multitudinous coverings of clouds. 

4. Then we must not forget that the book of Revela- 
tion is not intended as an indiscriminate foretelling of 
future events, but only as a prophecy of the future of the 
church. If any allusion is made at all to any outside 
nation or people, it is simply because their history is in- 
cidentally connected with the history of the church. 



12 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Hence the prominence given Chaldea and Egypt in the 
Old Testament, and the Roman Empire in the New. 
The scriptures are profoundly silent about all outside 
matters, however great and important they may seem. 
The final establishment of the church, and the universal 
enthronement of her Lord and King, are the great themes, 
and only burden of their teachings. 

Asking the reader to bear these things in mind, and es- 
pecially seeking the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and 
the blessing of God upon the effort, I proceed to the task 
before me. 



PART I. 

CHAPTER I. 
Daniel's Prophecies. 

BEFORE introducing the prophecies of John it is 
necessary first to consider those of Daniel, as they 
largely treat of the same things, the one being the key to 
the other; Daniel gives the grand outlines, while John 
fills in the picture. To understand the one is but the bet- 
ter to comprehend the other. 

The prophecies of Daniel are in the form of visions. 

First Vision. — (Dan. ii. 31-35.) 
An Image. 

Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. He saw a great image, 
whose head was of fine gold, his breast and arms were of 
silver, his body and thighs were of brass, his legs of 
iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. He also saw 
a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, which 
smote the image upon its feet, and broke it to pieces ; 
but the stone which smote the image became a great 
mountain, and filled the whole earth. 

Daniel interprets as follows: That the head of gold 
represented the Chaldean empire, of which Nebuchad- 
nezzar was head. That after the Chaldean empire an- 
other, but inferior, empire would arise, represented by 
the breast and arms of silver. That would be followed 
by a third, which would rule over all the earth, repre- 
sented by the brass of the body and thighs. That by a 
fourth, strong as iron, breaking in pieces all these, and 
represented by the legs of iron. This last to be divided 



14 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

into ten inferior kingdoms, represented by the iron and 
clay of the ten toes, partly strong and partly weak, as 
iron and clay, not mingling and mixing together. In 
the days of which kings God would set up a kingdom, 
represented by the little stone,^ which would break all 
these kingdoms into pieces, and which would never be 
destroyed, but last forever. 

This vision is very plain. Beginning with the Chaldean 
empire, of which Nebuchadnezzar was head, we have 
a clear-cut prophetic announcement of the forthcoming 
and succession of three other great empires, the breaking 
of the last into ten minor kingdoms, and the setting up 
of the kingdom of Christ, all of which came to pass as 
foretold. The Chaldean empire gave place to the Medo- 
persian, the Medopersian to the Macedonian, and the 
Macedonian to the Roman, which was broken into ten 
kingdoms, during the existence of which the church of 
Christ was set up. 

In this vision, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar and 
running to the end of time, we have presented only a 
general view, showing when the kingdom of Christ would 
be set up, and also its nature and final triumph, small at 
first, but in the end filling the whole earth as a great 
mountain. 

Second Vision. — (Dan. vii. 1-14.) 
Four Beasts. 

Daniel saw four beasts come up from the sea, diverse 
from each other : the first like a lion with eagle's wings ; 

^Dr. Alexander in his Stone Kingdom, following Baldwin in his 
Armageddon, strangely makes the little stone to mean the 
United States. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 15 

the second like a bear raised up on one side, with three 
ribs in his mouth ; the third Hke a leopard with four 
heads, and four wings of a fowl. The fourth beast was 
diverse from all others, terrible and exceeding strong, 
and had great iron tee'th. It devoured and broke in 
pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet. This beast 
also had ten horns ; and behold there came up among 
them another little horn, before whom three of the first 
horns were plucked up by the roots. In this little horn 
were eyes, like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking 
great things, which Daniel viewed till the appearing of 
the Aiicient of days, and judgment given the saints, when 
this beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to 
the burning flame. He also saw dominion and power, 
and a kingdom given the Son of man, that all nations 
and peoples should serve him. 

The interpretation that Daniel gives of this vision is 
just as clear cut and as easily understood as the other. 
The four beasts were the same kingdoms above men- 
tioned, with a more particular description of the fourth 
kingdom. The fourth beast, so diverse from the others, 
represented a fourth kingdom which was to arise, and 
which was to tread down the whole earth ; that the ten 
horns were ten kingdoms to arise out of it, and out of 
these another was to arise after them, and he should be 
diverse from the first, and should subdue three of the 
kings, and that he would speak great words against the 
Most High, wear out his saints, and think to change 
times and laws and that they should be given him, "For 
a time and times and the dividing of time"; and that, in 
the end, his dominion should be taken away, and the 
kingdom and the dominion given the saints of the Most 
High. 



i6 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Here we have a second mention of the same four great 
empires, with the additional statement, ihat out of the 
ten kingdoms into which the fourth or last empire should 
be divided another and different kingdom should arise. 
The fourth kingdom, as in the former vision, was the 
Roman empire ; the ten horns, the same as the ten toes of 
the previous vision, representing the ten kingdoms into 
which that empire was afterwards divided, and were, as 
usually understood, the Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Sueves 
and Allans, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, HeruU, Sax- 
ons and Angles, Huns, and Lombards. The little horn to 
arise in their midst, the Papacy, as we wih afterwards 
see, the three horns or kingdoms plucked up by it, the 
Heruli, Lombards, and Ostrogoths; the time of continu- 
ance, three and a half years; that is, 1,260 days, or 1,260 
years; a day for a year, according to prophetic count. 

This vision begins with Belshazzar, about 555 B. C, 
and runs also to the end, showing the rise of the Papacy, - 
or man of sin, which was to wear out the saints, and to 
continue 1,260 years." 



2 



Third Vision. — (Dan. viii. 1-14.) 

Ram and He-goat. 

In this vision Daniel saw a ram with two high horns, 
one higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 
This ram was pushing westward, northward, and south- 

'Comp. Gen. xxix. 26, 27; Numb. xiv. 34; Dan. ix. 24, 27; Ezek. 
iv. 6; 2 Pet. iii. 8. The early fathers understood "days" literally. 
With increased development of the truth and light, the year-day 
principle gradually obtained till the Reformation. The numerous 
fulfillments up to the present time fully establish this as thc- 
true theory of interpretation. See Elliott's Horae Apocalyptical 
Vol. III., 239. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 17 

ward, and no beast could standi before him^ and he be- 
came great. Then he saw a he-goat coming from the 
west, on the face of the whole earth. He had a notable 
horn between his eyes, and he came up against the ram 
with two horns, and smote the ram and broke his two 
horns ; and there was no power in the ram to withstand 
him, but the ram was cast to the earth and stamped upon. 
The goat waxed very strong, and when strong, the great 
horn was broken, and four notable ones came up towards 
the four winds of heaven, and out of one of them came 
forth a little horn, which waxed great, towards the south 
and east, and the pleasant land, and it waxed great even 
to the host of heaven, "and cast down some of the host 
and of the stars," to the ground and stamped upon them. 
And he magified himself even to the prince of the host; 
and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, the place 
of his sanctuary removed, and a host given him against 
the daily sacrifice, by reason of transgression; and it 
''cast the truth to the ground and practised and pros- 
pered." And when it was asked, How long shall be the 
vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgres- 
sion of desolation and to give both the sanctuary and 
the host to be trodden under foot ? the answer came, unto 
2,300 days ; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. 

Even if Daniel had not given any interpretation of this 
vision his reader would not be slow in understanding 
that the ram with two horns, one being higher than the 
other, was the Medopersian empire; the Persian being 
weaker at first, and becoming the stronger in the end. 
And the he-goat, the kingdom of Macedonia, that soon 
overcame the Persian empire; and the horn becoming 
strong, being broken, and four notable ones coming in 
its place, representing the division of the empire into four 



i8 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

parts, viz.: Egypt, Syria, Thrace, and Macedon ; and di- 
vided among his four generals: Ptolemy, Seleucus, 
Lysimachus, and Cassander. Out of one of these, viz., 
Syria, arose a little horn, a "king of fierce countenance 
and understanding dark sentences," representing the 
Mohammedan power, as we understand it, and waxing 
great in the East, that is, in Persia; in the South, that 
is, in Egypt; and in the Pleasant land; that is, Pales- 
tine; magnifying himself against the Prince of the host 
and taking away the daily sacrifice, and trampling the 
sanctuary under foot because of the fulness of transgres- 
sion, all of which was true, as we shall hereafter see. 

Here, then, we have a vision beginning with the Mace- 
donian empire, and to last 2,300 days, or years, showing 
the rise and continuance of the Mohammedan delusion; 
the four kingdoms into which the Macedonian empire 
was to be divided, and the part out of which the king of 
''fierce countenance" was to arise ; the time of his active 
life, and the time for the cleansing of the sanctuary. 

Summing Up. 

From this rapid review of the prophecies of Daniel 
we are taught, in clear and unmistakable terms, that 
there were to be four great empires, which were to arise 
and follow each dther in quick and rapid succession, viz. ; 
the Chaldean, the Medopersian, the Macedonian, and the 
Roman ; and out of the Roman would arise a strange and 
mysterious persecuting power, diverse and unlike any 
other, and continue 1,260 years. And also, out of the 
four kingdoms into which the Macedonian empire would 
be divided, another power of great fierceness would 
arise, which would trample under foot the holy city, and 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 19 

defile the sanctuary ; and, measuring from the rise of that 
kingdom, would continue to the end of the 2,300 years. 
On turning to history to see what kings of the above 
description, if any, arose at these two periods, we find 
two, and only two, and these precisely meeting the de- 
mands of the case, viz. : the Papacy and the Mohamme- 
dan delusion. They both arose at the very time and place 
indicated. The one arose out of the Macedonian, and 
the other out of the Roman empire. The one out of the 
four kingdoms into which the former, and the other out 
of the ten kingdoms into which the latter v/as to be di- 
vided. The time, therefore, for their appearing has long 
since gone by; for these four great empires have succes- 
sively arisen and passed off the stage, — the sanctuary 
been in desolation for centuries ; so the kingdom of 
Christ for a long time set up. If they be not the kings 
intended, then there is absolutely nothing else to fill the 
place. Nor yet can the prophecies concerning them, ever 
be fulfilled, unless the past history should be repeated, 
and there yet arise another set of great empires, the ex- 
act counterpart of the first, the one to be divided into 
four, and the other into ten parts. In other words, that 
there be another Macedonian, and another Roman em- 
pire, and Jerusalem rebuilt, and the services oi the 
sanctuary re-established, and all to be again destroyed 
and defiled, a thing wholly unreasonable. We need never 
expect history to repeat itself after this fashion. Neither 
is there any necessity for such a repetition. Nor yet do 
these prophecies, which in their mighty sweep reach the 
very end of time, give a single hint as to any other great 
nations yet to arise, but rather give us to understand 
that the time is forever past for any other great universal 
empire, save the kingdom of Christ, which is yet to cover 



20 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

the whole earth, superseding all others. Indeed, the his- 
tory is already so complete that even Papists themselves 
do not hesitate to admit the general application. In 
their English Bible, edited by Dr. Challonier, and with 
the endorsement of Bishop Hughes and his associates, 
and intended for, and in use among the common people, 
we find the follov/ing candid admissions : That the four 
great beasts are the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and 
Roman empires ; that the ten horns are the ten kingdoms 
among which the fourth beast shall be parcelled; and 
that the little horn is ''commonly understood of Anti- 
christ." (See note, p. 697.) This seems to us a most 
remarkable and fatal admission on their part. For, ad- 
mit that the four beasts are the four great empires above 
m.eritioned; admit that the ten horns were the ten king- 
doms arising out of the fourth kingdom, and the little 
horn arising out of the ten was the Antichrist, and the 
identity of Rome v/ith Antichrist is at once established. 
The claim, of the Papists that he is yet to come is clearly 
untenable; for how come out of one of the ten king- 
doms, and overcome three of them, when those kingdoms 
have long since ceased to exist? The plea is further re- 
futed by the declaration of the Apostle Paul, that he had 
already commenced to work in his day. (2 Thess. ii. 
7, 8.) And that as soon as he that hindered — that is, 
the Roman government, which then held the sway — was 
removed, the Man of Sin would be revealed and take 
his place. ^ According to Paul, the place to look for the 

^Tliis lias been the general view of the church since the days 
of Turtullian, who lived in the latter part of the second century. 
Says he, "What obstacle is there but the Roman State, the falling 
av/ay of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall intro- 
duce antichrist upon its own ruins?" (Clark's Pub., II., 258.) 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 21 

Man of Sin is behind, and not before. Why, then, be 
looking for him in the future, when he had already begun 
to work in Paul's day? And why still be looking for 
these two kings, the one of strange and the other of 
fierce countenance, when the time so clearly and defi- 
nitely fixed for their appearance, has so long been past? 
And have they not been sufficiently fierce and sanguinary, 
and shed blood enough, and defiled the sanctuary enough, 
to entitle them to the distinctive appellation, that we 
should be looking yet for others? Furthermore, how 
account for the silence of the scriptures concerning these 
if they be not the ones intended? V/hy such emphasis 
given Assyria and Egypt of old, and nothing said about 
these strange and mysterious enemies of the church? 
We submit, if prophecy be the future of the church's 
history, would it not be passing strange, yea even a 
marvel, that two such antagonizing forces should exist 
for so long a time, the one in the very bosom of the 
church, and the other on its nearest confines, like the 
Canaanites within, and the Philistines without, Israel 
of old, and for so many long centuries waging a merci- 
less warfare against the saints, and persistently resisting 
the onward march of the kingdom of Christ, and yet no 
mention made of them, and not even a hint given, by 
any sacred writer, concerning their rise and appearance? 
As there are no other kings in the above mentioned 
period, and the time fixed for their appearance has long 
since passed, and these so precisely agree with the de- 
scription, we are forced to the conclusion that the two 
kings that were to arise, the one out of the ten king- 
doms of the P.oman, and the other out of the four king- 
doms of the Grecian empire, were none other than the 
Papacy and the Mohammedan delusion. 



22. HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

The following summary will represent to the eye the 
truths set forth in the preceding prophecies. 

Summary. 
Four Great Empires. 
I. Chaldean. 
n. Medopersian. 
HI. Macedonian. 
Macedonian, divided into Egypt, Syria, Thrace, Mace- 
don; Syria, the one out of which the first little horn, or 
king of fierce countenance, arose. 

IV. Roman. 

Roman, divided into Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Sueves 
and Allans, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Heruli, 
Saxons and Angles, Huns, Lombards, out of which the 
second little horn or mysterious king was to arise. 

The three plucked up by it: Ostrogoths, Heruli, Lom- 
bards. 

The Kingdom of Christ. 

The last great universal kingdom, which is to overcome 
the others, and yet to fill the whole earth. 

H^re are set forth: 

1. That there were to be four great empires. 

2. The third was to be divided into four, and out of 
one of these a fierce king should arise, and continue to 
the end of the vision of 2,300 years. 

3. The fourth should be divided into ten kingdoms, 
and out of these should arise a strange and mysterious 
king, unlike anything else that ever lived, and who should 
subdue three of them, and continue 1,260 years. 

4. That about this time God would set up a kingdom, 
small at first, but to grow, and in the end to fill the whole 
earth. 



CHAPTER 11. 
Prophecies of John. 

FROM these clear-cut statements of Daniel we now 
turn to John. This apostle lived nearly seven cen- 
turies after Daniel. While in exile on the isle of Patmos, 
whither banished for the testimony of Jesus Christ, he 
was favored with a most wonderful revelation, both of 
''things that are and things to be hereafter," the first 
containing an account of the seven churches and the 
second the future history of the church. 

Being in the spirit on the Lord's day, he was favored 
with a view of the symbolic throne of Jehovah, located 
in the firmamental heaven,^ surrounded with a corusca- 
tion of light and glory, and in the midst of which, and 
surrounding the throne, were twenty-four elders, seated 
upon thrones, and four Living Creatures, with four 
different faces. The first like a lion, the second like a 
calf, the third like the face of a man, and the fourth like 
a flying eagle, representing, as we understand it, the dif- 
ferent orders of the redemeed, crowned and uncrowned ; 
the former, the sanctified saints in heaven, already 
crowned, and the latter the unsanctified saints on earth 
struggling in the flesh. ^ 

^ Greek ^y rw oupavaj not ev rot? oupavoi?, as in other 
places, for tHe real heaven. The reader will bear this distinction 
in mind, as it runs through the entire book. 

^ That the living creatures are the symbol of the church on 
on earth appears: 



24 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

John also saw, in the right hand of him that sat on the 
throne, a book written within and without, by the reason 
of the abundance of the revelation, or perhaps, as Elliott 
suggests, the things zvithout being supplemental to those 
within. 

General Plan. 
This book was divided into three parts, the first con- 
taining the seals, the second the trumpets, the third the 
vials; seven of each. The seventh seal containing the 
seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet the seven vials. At 
the close of the seals there was an earthquake or up- 
heaval, announcing a change and introducing and con- 
taining the trumpets or judgments. At the close of the 
trumpets another earthcjuake or upheaval, announcing 
another change, and introducing and containing the vials 
or last plagues. At the close of the vials another and 
greater earthquake or upheaval, the greatest of all, in- 
cluding the binding of Satan, the Millennium, the loosing 
of Satan, the battle of Gog and Magog, the general res- 
urrection and final judgment. 

Seven Seals. 
Under the seals we have the following symbols : First, 
a white horse with its rider, with a bow and a crown 

1. Scene located in the firmament, and not real heaven, as 
stated above. 

2. Animal nature a fit emblem of unsanctified human nature. 

3. Thanksgiving commenced with living creatures, and taken up 
by the elders; heaven rejoices with earth. 

4. Because they, together with the elders, only twenty-four in 
number, declared, "Thou hast redeemed us from every nation, 
kindred and tongue"; therefore the representative of every nation 
and people. 

5. The symbol dropped in the closing part of the book, where 
real heavenly scenes are depicted. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 25 

given to him, and going forth conquering and to con- 
quer. Second, a red horse, with power to kill and take 
away peace. Third, a black horse with balances, and a 
statement of the price of corn, weighed with exactness, 
on account of scarcity, but oil and wine to be left ; God's 
judgments always tempered with mercy. Fourth, a pale 
horse, with death sitting on him and hell following in his 
train. Fifth, the souls of martyrs crying for vengeance. 
Sixth, the great earthquake, and the sealing of the 
144,000, and concluding with the seventh seal. 

Interpretation of Symbols. 

The first four seals being under the same symbol of a 
horse and rider must refer to the same thing, and repre- 
sents the Roman empire, with the church of Christ in its 
bosom . Church and state are always in one sense united, 
being alike blessed and cursed of God together. At first 
the state dominated the church ; in the end the order is to 
be reversed, and the church is to dominate the state. At 
first the world was punished for its treatment of the 
church ; in the end the church chastened for its treatment 
of the state; but always one and inseparable. Accord- 
ing to this interpretation the white horse in the first seal 
fitly represents the victory, progress, and prosperity of 
the Roman empire, bearing the church of God ir, its 
bosom as the horse its rider. Then the horse, chai ^ing 
its color to red, representing the same empire in a state of 
strife, war, and bloodshed. Then to black, the symbol of 
distress, representing famine and want. Then th 3 pale 
color, a representation of still greater general terror and 
dismay consequent upon the preceding state of things. 
Then the souls of martyrs, the symbol of persecution. 
Lastly, the earthquake or upheaval, betokening some 



26 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

great revolution about to follow, which likewise would 
be in the same empire. 

In this general outline we have a corresponding out 
line in the history of the world for the first three cen- 
turies, till the first great upheaval in the time of Constan- 
tine, and afterwards followed by the great invasion of the 
Vandal hordes from the North. According to Gibbon,^ 
the time of the greatest prosperity of the Roman empire 
was during the reigns of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and 
the two Antonines, from A. D. 96 to 180, known as 'The 
golden age." After which, with the assassination of 
Commodus, began the decline, and for about ninety years, 
till the accession of Diocletian, there was incessant strife, 
''thirty-two emperors and twenty-seven pretenders alter- 
nately hurling each other from the throne." Then a 
period of greater distress, from 180 to 193. Then still 
greater terror and dismay, from 193 to 243, and greater 
still from 243 to 248. Then the cry of those m.artyred 
souls, the result of those awful persecutions, beginning 
with Nero and terminating with Diocletian, when the 
sword of Caesar and the whole world sought to put down 
this new religion, and when the blood of martyrs flowed 
like water, when so many sealed their testimony with 
their life's blood. Then the great earthquake or up- 
heaval, connected with the conversion of Constantine, the 
Roman governor, when there was a comple somer- 
sault, the whole world rushing into the church. Never, 
perhaps, was there ever before such a complete revolution 
in matters religious and ecclesiastical. As Dr. Adam 
Clark has well said, "The revolution under Constantine 
and the destruction of Jerusalem were the two greatest 
events that have ever taken place in the world since the 
«Vol. I., 1. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 2.7 

flood ito the eighteenth century of the Christian era."* 
And this is the more remarkable on account of the small- 
ness of the number of the Christians, they being, accord- 
ing to Gibbon, only about one-twentieth of the popula- 
tion.^ So general was the reaction against heathenism, 
and so complete the revolution, that it required some such 
striking images to represent it as the darkening of the 
sun, paling of the moon, and blotting out of the stars ; 
when, as Bishop Newton has expressed it, "The great 
lights of the heathen world, the great powers, civil and 
ecclesiastical, were all eclipsed, and obscured, the heathen 
emperors and Caesars were slain, the heathen priests and 
augers extirpated, the heathen officers and magistrates re- 
moved, the heathen temples demolished, and their rev- 
enues appropriated to better uses."^ 

That the figures thus employed were none too bold to 
depict these scenes will appear from the fact that they 
are the very ones used by the old prophets in speaking of 
similar things. Thus Isaiah, in speaking of the destruc- 
tion of Babylon, says, 'Tor the stars of heaven and the 
constellations thereof shall not give their light, the sun 
shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall 
not cause her light to shine." (Chap. xiii. 10.) So 
in the judgments to be visited upon Idumea, "All the 
hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens be 
rolled together as a scroll, and their host shall fall down 
as the leaf falleth off the vine." (Chap, xxxiv. 4.) So 
Joel, in his description of the change from the old to the 
new dispensation, uses language equally strong: "And it 
shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out my 
Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophcy ; . . . and I will show wonders in the heav- 
*Com. in Loc. ^ol. I., 583. "-Nol. II.. 203. 



28 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

ens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke ; 
the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into 
blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord 
come." (Chap. ii. 28-31.) See also Amos. viii. 9, and 
Zech. i. 14, 15, where the destruction of Jerusalem is 
spoken of as "the great day of the Lord." 

The entire suitableness of the figures employed will 
also appear in a still stronger light when we remember 
that be3''ond and behind all this we have here given us a 
typical foreshadowing of impending judgments still in 
the future. In this typical overthrow of governments, 
and the whole world in consternation and woe, we also 
have a forecast of comxing judgments, set forth in the 
trumpets, and even extending to the final destruction of 
all the enemies of the Lord and his church. Every rill 
is but the prophecy of the existence of the mighty ocean ; 
so every judgment is but the foreshadov/ing of the final 
destruction of all the wicked. We cannot look out upon 
any object in nature without seeing objects behind it as 
a background. As the Saviour, in his description of the 
destruction of Jerusalem, imperceptibly glides into the 
final judgment, because included in it, so here. This ter- 
rible upheaval, the dim adumbration of final destruction 
of all his enemies, v\^as but the first great ground swell, 
or reactionary movement back in the direction of God 
and heaven. Hence the consternation and woe repre- 
sented by the call to the rocks and mountains to fall upon 
them, and hide them from the face of an angry God. 
Similar language is used in Hos. x. 8, referring to Shal- 
maneser's invasion, and also by the Saviour in Luke xviii. 
30, v/here, when speaking of the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, he represents its terrified inhabitants as calling to 
mountains and hills to fall on them, and furnish a place 
of retreat. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 29 

Here, then, in this first outlook, reaching to the distant 
future, we are brought face to face with all the after 
judgnients set forth in the trumpets and seals that are to 
be visited upon all the enemies of the Lord, the past be- 
ing but the earnest, prophecy and pledge of all succeed- 
ing ones-. 

Sealing of the 144,000. 

Before the sounding of the trumpets, introducing 
these impending judgments, we have the sealing of God's 
people, not Jews simply, but all his elect people, 144,000; 
a definite for an indefinite sum.^ As in Egypt, before 
the destroying angel went forth, the houses of Israel v/ere 
first marked; and as in Ezekiel's vision, the man with 
the inkhorn first went through Jerusalem and m.arked 
every one who vv^ept and sighed for the abominations done 
therein before the man with the sword~ upon his thigh 
should pass through ; so the sealing or marking of God's 
people must precede these judgments. Thus showing 
that God will ever take care of his people at all times, 
and under all circumstances. 

As in the first outlook we have the judgments as 
already completed, so we also have the anticipatory giv- 
ing of thanks, as though the final victory was likewise 

^That these were not Jews simply, but all God's chosen ones, 
will appear: (1) From the interchanging and intermingling of 
the tribes of the free and bond woman, and not according to 
primegeniture. Comp. Gen. xxix. and xxx. with Eev. vii. 5-8. 
(2) The restora(:ion ol the name of Levi to the list: There being 
a change of priesthood, also a change of law, Heb. vii. 12. See 
Elliott I., 236. (3) Of the new song it is said, Rev. xiv. 3, "That 
no man could learn that song but the 144,000, which were re- 
deemed from the earth." Which necessarily covers all the re- 
deemed, both Jews and Gentiles. 



30 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

achieved. John sees the multitude of victors with palm 
branches in their hands, as having already passed through 
the tribulation of earth, and now led beside the fountains 
of living waters, and having all their tears wiped av/ay 
by the hand of a loving Father. 

Trumpets. 

After the sealing of the 144,000, the angels with the 
trumpets were commanded to sound. The trumpet, the 
usual signal for war, was also employed to herald the ap- 
proach of any important event. Here it was used to pro- 
claim the coming of those terrible judgments about to be 
visited upon a corrupt church and world; for, though 
seemingly advanced, the church was really abased by her 
worldly alliances. The scene was preceded by voices, 
thunderings, and an earthquake, all indicative of the un- 
wonted heaviness of those judgments, and in all of which 
we have clearly set forth the invasion of the Northern 
vandal hordes upon the Roman empire, the then masters 
of the known world, with the church of God in her bosom, 
and as her pretended guardian and protector. 

After an half hour, or short pause in the panoramic 
scene, for sake of emphasis, the seven angels proceeded 
to sound. 

First Trumpet. 

The first angel sounds, and there followed hail and fire 
mingled with blood, which v^ere cast upon the earth, and 
the third part of the trees were burned up ; that is, a third 
part of the Roman empire, or the whole, as a third part 
of the world. In this we have a striking and most pic- 
turesque description of Alaric and the Goths, who made 
several incursions into the country from the North, car- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 31 

rying destruction and ruin in their march — (395-410) — 
when he took and sacked and burned the city of Rome. 

Second Trumpet. 

And the second angel sounded, "and as it were a great 
mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and 
the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part 
of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, 
and the third part of the ships were destroyed." 

Soon after the depredation of Alaric, Attila, fitly styled 
"the scourge of God and man," with a large army of 
Huns, ravaged the empire, for the space of fourteen 
years, aptly represented by the burning mountain cast 
into the sea; in which another third part of the empire 
was destroyed, or as the Roman people were estimated 
about one-third part of the earth, another third part of 
the whole is thus fitly spoken of as turned into blood. 

Third Trumpet. 

The third trumpet sounded, and there fell a great star 
from heaven as a burning lamp, and it fell upon a third 
part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. And 
the name of the star is called "Wormwood" ; and a third 
part of the waters became wormwood ; and men died of 
the waters because they were bitter. 

Soon after Attila's retreat, Genseric, with a large army 
of 300,000 Vandals and Moors from Africa, invaded the 
empire, and besieged and took Rome, and abandoned the 
city to the licentiousness and cruelty of his soldiers. The 
bitterness of such an experience may well be termed 
"Wormwood." Genseric being also a bigoted Arian, 
and a cruel persecutor of the orthodox Christians, like 



32 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

wise poisoned the fountains, and rendered their bitter- 
ness still more intense. 

Fourth Trumpet. 

The fourth angel sounded, and the fourth part of the 
sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and the 
third part of the stars; so the third part of them was 
darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, 
and the night likewise. The judgments here reached the 
government. If the three preceding trumpets refer to 
the disasters sent upon the Roman empire, this trumpet 
is then simply the completion of the work; and we here 
have the final fulfillment in the complete overthrow 
of Roman supremacy, and the final establishment of 
barbarian dominion under Odoacer, the king of the 
Heruli, who, coming to Rome with an army of barba- 
rians, stripped Momylus of the imperial robes, and caused 
himself to be proclaimed king of Italy ; and thus putting 
an end to the very name of the Western empire ; fifty rep- 
resented by the smiting of one-third part of the sun, moon 
and stars. 

Woe Trumpets. 

The remaining three trumpets are termed "Woe trum- 
pets," on account of the intense bitterness connected with 
them. The four preceding ones seem to contain woe 
enough, and bitterness enough, but nothing to be com- 
pared with the three that are to follow, because these 
blight the soul as well as destroy the body ; and because 
they were to continue longer, and take In a larger scope 
in their vast sweep. The first four trumpets refer chiefly 
to the downfall of the Western empire; these last three 
to the downfall of the Eastern, to be effected by the in- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 33 

flux of the Mohammedan and Turkish hordes, the setting 
up of the ''Man of Sin/' at first stated in a general way, 
but afterwards with more fulness and distinctness. 

These trumpets are introduced with an angel flying 
through mid-heaven, and saying with a loud voice, "Woe, 
woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the 
other voices of the trumpet of the three angels yet to 
sound." 

Fifth Trumpet. — (First Woe Trumpet.) 

The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from 
heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key to 
the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke, which dark- 
ened the sun and air, and out of the smoke came locusts, 
to which was given power as to scorpions, and to hurt 
only those who had not the seal of God in their fore- 
heads. They should not kill, but only torment for five 
months. And their torment was the torment of a scor- 
pion. And in those days men desired to die, but death 
fled from them. The shapes of the locusts were like 
horses prepared for battle. They had a crown on their 
heads, and faces of men. Their hair as that of women, 
and teeth of lions, and breastplates of iron, and the 
sound of their wings like the sound of chariots of many 
horses running to battle, and had tails like scorpions, 
and stings in their tails ; and had power to hurt men five 
months. And they had a king over them whose name 
was Abaddon in Hebrew, but Apollyon in Greek. 

This trumpet is generally conceded to have reference 
to the Mohammedan or Saracenic conquests ; the Moham- 
medan leaders represented by the star, and the Arabian 
army by the locusts ; with faces like men, but long, flow- 
ing, uncut hair like women, indicative of the fierceness 



34 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

of their nature ; with the sting of scorpions in their tails, 
poisoning men with the destructive doctrines of the 
Koran; their power to torment being five m.onths, equal 
to one hundred and fifty days or years, just the length of 
the Mohammedan conquests, extending from A. D. 612 
to y62, 

"One woe is past, behold there cometh two more woes 
hereafter." 

Sixth Trumpet. — (Second Woe Trumpet.) 

The sixth angel sounded, and with greater solem- 
nity, as a still greater woe was coming, and as coming 
from the "four corners of the altar," as the place of the 
guilt. The angel with the trumpet was ordered to loose 
the four angels bound in the great river Euphrates. The 
number of the horsemen were two hundred thousand 
thousand. They had breast plates of fire, and of jacinth, 
and of brimstone. The horses had heads of lions, and out 
of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. 
They had power alike in their mouths and in their tails. 
By these the third of men were killed. The time for 
which they were prepared were an hour, a day, a month, 
and a year. 

We are not long in finding an event in history ancf the 
world at that time, agreeing precisely with this descrip- 
tion. The Mohammedan or Saracenic conquest was fol- 
lowed by that' of the Turks, a people of the same general 
spirit and character; hence the similarity of the descrip- 
tion. There were four Sultans (the four angels) aris- 
ing at different times, but at last uniting in the same 
work, and these angels were at first bound or held back 
in their conquests by the Crusades. The description, too, 
exactly suited their horsemen, and the fierceness and ce- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 35 

lerity of their conquests. They had power in their horses* 
tails as well as heads, as they carried the teachings of 
Mohammed with them, thus stinging men with their 
teachings, as with the sting of a scorpion. Their num- 
ber two myriads, or two ten thousands of thousands, 
equal to two millions, a definite for an indefinite num- 
ber. Their time, an hour, a day, a month, and one year, 
being a total of three hundred and ninety-one days or 
years; the length of the Turkish conquests, beginning 
A. D. 1281, and continuing till A. D. 1672, the time of 
their last victory over the Christians. 

In this conquest the Romans were in a measure pro- 
tected by the armies of the Crusaders. So it is added : "the 
rest of the men, that is, the Romans, not killed with these 
plagues, and who were not deterred by them, repented 
not of the works of their hands, but continued to worship 
devils, and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone 
and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk." 

In this particular case, as in the preceding trumpet, 
the description given and the developed facts seem won- 
derfully to agree. 

A Pause. 

Before the sounding of the seventh trumpet, introduc- 
ing the third and last great woe, there is a pause in the 
vision to introduce ''The Little Book," with its account 
of the slaying of the witnesses. The arrest was made 
with the statement that the mystery of God connected 
with the last great woe would not yet or then be revealed, 
as the time was not yet (;^/>ovo9 oux sorat en) but wotld 
be at the sounding of the seventh trumpet. 

The Little Book. — (The Reformation.) 
John saw a mighty angel come down from heaven, with 



36 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

a little open book in his hand, which, upon his request, 
was given him with instruction to eat it, which he did; 
but soon found it, as the angel had foretold, both sweet 
as honey to his mouth, but all bitterness within, and also 
the added instruction, "Thou must prophesy again before 
many peoples and nations and tongues and kings." A 
very striking statement indeed, as, before the Reforma- 
tion, preaching had fallen into disuse, the mass and other 
ceremonial observances having wholly taken its place. 
In looking for the fulfillment of this symbol we are at 
once reminded of the Reformation in the time of Luther 
and his coadjutors in the preaching of the true gospel 
preparatory to and connected with the second great up- 
heaval. In this preaching of the gospel there was a strik- 
ing admixture of bitter things with much that was ex- 
ceedingly sweet. 

Slaying of the Witnesses. 

In this connection we have the measuring of the temple, 
the casting out of the apostatized portion, and giving up 
the court without to the Gentiles, who were to tread it 
under foot forty-tv/o months; that is, twelve hundred 
and sixty days, or years, during which .time the two wit- 
nesses should prophesy ; not two men, or even two peo- 
ples, who were to live that long, but the continuation of 
faithful witnesses ; and tzvo, because that number was re- 
quired by the Mosaic law to establish any fact. These 
should prophesy clothed in sackcloth ; and when they shall 
have finished, or about to finish, their testimony — or fin- 
ished at least so far as the purpose was concerned, for 
they are still bearing testimony, and always will — the 
beast, that was to ascend out of the bottomless pit, and to 
be afterwards described, would slay them, and leave their 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 37 

bodies unburied for three days and a half in the streets 
of the city spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, the 
former on account of its wickedness, and the latter on 
account of its oppression; and after three days and a 
half would come to life again and ascend up unto heaven. 
Some, like Scott, that prince of interpreters, and fol- 
lowing Bishop Newton, have held that the matters here 
spoken of are yet in the future ; but it does seem that the 
events happening since their day show them to be mis- 
taken, and too clearly prove that the time is past for the 
fulfillment of this part of the prophecy. These two wit- 
nesses obviously were slain with the suppression of the 
gospel in 15 14, when the whole world was under Popish 
authority, and when at the Council of Constance the 
orator of the occasion, at the ninth session. May 5th of 
that year, could and did say, ''Jam nemo reclamat nullus 
obsistef (No one now denies, no one opposes)., .^ni 
the witnesses were not buried, nor really dead, for it was 
on the 2 1st of October, 15 18, only three years afterwards, 
that Luther nailed his theses to the church's door posts 
at Wittemberg, when the witnesses came to life again, 
and have been living and testifying ever since ; and taken 
up to God, not in the sense of leaving the world, but in 
the sense of being kept and preserved by him, never 
again to be silenced or put to death. 

Second Great Earthquake. 

After the resurrection of the two witnesses, and in 
connection with it, there was a second great earthquake 
or upheaval, when a tenth part of the city fell, and of 
men, ten thousand were slain, and the remnant were af- 
frighted and gave glory to God ; all fulfilled in the Refor- 
mation in Luther's day, which was truly a great up- 



38 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

heaval, in which there was a great loss to, and falHng 
away from, the doctrines of Popery, and when the Brit- 
ish Isles, one of the ten minor kingdoms into which the 
Roman empire was divided, came out from under the 
Romish yoke. 

At this stage of the prophecy the announcement is 
made, ''The second woe is past, and behold a third woe 
oometh quickly." 

Seventh Trumpet. — (Third Woe Trumpet.) 

As the third woe is the largest and longest in continu- 
ance, and had already commenced, and needed a more 
minute description, the announcement is here simply 
made that the seventh angel sounded his trum_pet, and 
the result given as already accomplished, as well as a 
general outlook, and in the following terms: 

"And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great 
voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have 
become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ, and he 
shall reign forever and ever." i\nd, as anticipating the 
final result, the heavenly hosts fell on their faces and 
worshipped God, saying, "we give thee thanks, O Lord 
God Almighty, which art and wast, and ■ art to come, be- 
cause thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast 
reigned." 

Here with this general outlook, in which the final an- 
ticipatory triumph of the church is asserted, the first part 
of the book closes. 

Third Great Woe. 

After this glowing doxology the prophecy goes back 
a little to give a fuller account of the great woe of which 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 39 

mention has already been made^ and of things written 
"without" the book, as ElHott suggests. As the Papacy 
is clearly the great woe, and had already been in existence 
for centuries before this time, the prophecy goes back to 
give a fuller account of its origin, rise, and progress. 
We have this account in Chapter xii. 

Wonder in Heaven. 

John saw, in the firmamental heaven, a woman clothed 
with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a 
crown of twelve stars upon her head, all indicative of 
majesty, and about to be delivered of a child; whilst a 
great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and 
seven crowns upon his heads, and with his tail drawing 
the third part of the stars of heaven, was standing before 
the woman ready to devour the child as soon as born. 
The woman brought forth a man child, who was to rule 
the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught 
up to God and his throne ; and the woman fled into the 
wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that 
they should feed her there for a thousand two hundred 
and three score days. 

He also saw, in this connection, Satan, spoken of as 
a dragon, cast out of the firmamental heaven, where pre- 
viously seen as the great Adversary and accuser of the 
brethren; and now, being cast out, began persecuting 
the woman, casting out water out of his mouth, and 
seeking to destroy her; but God gave her two great 
wings, by which she fled into the wilderness, and where 
she was "nourished for a time and times and a half," 
that is, three and a half years, or 1,260 days. 

These two visions seem clearly to refer to the same 
event; the first being anticipatory of the second; the 



40 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

first stating in general terms what is more fully ex- 
plained in the second, the woman being the same and 
representing the church in both instances, and the child 
her prospective increase and enlargement. 

The Red Dragon. — (Rome Pagan.) 

The Red Dragon, with its seven heads or forms of gov- 
ernment, and ten horns or kingdoms, is clearly Rome 
Pagan, as generally admitted, even by Papists. Satan 
and the Dragon are interchangeably used, because he 
works through the Dragon. As he is called ''the old 
serpent," because be first appeared to our first parents in 
the garden in the form of a serpent, and worked through 
the serpent, so here he is the Red Dragon because he 
entered the Red Dragon and worked through it. And 
the name is the more appropriate as the Dragon was the 
original standard of the Roman legions ; and because, as 
the Red Dragon, Rome had subdued one-third of the 
princes of the world; so he is represented as drawing 
one-third of the stars with his tail. The general idea, 
then, is that as there was about to be an enlargement in 
the church, in the conversion of Constantine, and suc- 
cessive Christian emperors, who were appointed of God 
to punish the enemies of the gospel, and thus "rule the 
world with a rod of iron," Satan instigated Rome Pagan 
to endeavor to thwart the purpose by persecuting the 
woman, or church, who was hid by God in the wilderness 
for twelve hundred and sixty years, the church's increase 
being taken to heaven in the sense of being defended and 
preserved by the Lord; the two great wings given the 
woman being the Eastern and Western empires, and the 
water out of the Dragon's mouth and helping the woman 
being the multitudes of Northern hordes who remained 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 41 

at Rome after the invasion and were converted to Chris- 
tianity, and thus becoming helpers of the cause. 

The further continuance and progress of this struggle 
between the woman and her adversaries are set forth in 
the rising of two beasts, or enemies, one from the sea, 
the other from the earth, against both of which she must 
contend. 

First Beast. — (Rome Christian.) 

The first beast is described as coming out of the sea, 
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon the horns 
ten crowns, and upon these heads ''the name of blas- 
phemy." The beast was like unto a leopard, his feet as 
the feet of a bear, his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And 
the Dragon gave him his po/wer and his seat and his 
great authority. One of his heads was wounded as 
unto death, but his deadly wound was healed, and all 
the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped 
the Dragon and worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is 
like unto the beast, and 'who is able to make war with 
him?" And unto him was given a mouth speaking great 
things, and blasphemies; and power was given unto him 
to continue forty-two months. And it was given him to 
make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And 
power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and 
nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship 
him, whose names are not written in the book of life. 

If the Red Dragon be Rome Pagan, as interpreters, 
and even Papists themselves generally admit, then it is 
but a step, and an easy one at that, to the conclusion, 
that this first beast was Rome Christian ; that is, the same 
power as before; in other words, the Red Dragon with 
the form of Christianity engrafted upon it ; for it derived 



42 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

its seat and all its power and authority from the DragoK. 
In other words, this first beast was the same Dragon, 
modified and held in check by the elements of this new 
religion. 

Notice the description, how sharply drawn, and how 
applicable to Rome. Seven heads! that is, seven forms 
of government. The different forms of government of 
Rome were, viz.. Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, 
Military Tribunes, Emperors (the head wounded and af- 
terwards healed) and Dukedom. "Ten horns"! that is, 
ten kingdoms into which the empire was divided, already 
mentioned, viz., Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Sueves and 
Allans, Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Heruli, Saxons 
and Angles, Huns, Lombards. 

Notice, too, the Dragon had seven crowns upon his 
seven heads ; that is, had his power within himself. But 
this beast differs in this, that his crowns, ten in number, 
are not upon his heads, as in the case of the Dragon, but 
upon his horns, showing his authority being not within 
himself, but as coming from the kingdoms' composing 
the empire. He also had the additional name of "Blas- 
phemy," growing out of the engrafted and perverted 
abuses of the religious element. 

Further, one of the heads, the sixth (the emperor), 
was wounded "unto death," representing the entire sub- 
version of imperial authority in the time of Augustulus, 
when Rome became a Dukedom, subject to the Exarchate 
of Ravenna ; but afterwards healed in the revival of the 
imperial name and dignity, in the person of Charlemagne, 
who was proclaimed Augustus. And this beast withal 
bad all the characteristics of the different animals; the 
leopard, bear, and lion, because he had the same spirit 
and power of the former kingdom. He was to "prac- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 43 

tice" and continue to exercise his power for forty-two 
months. What other power ever existed, agreeing at all 
with this description? 

Second Beast. — (Rome Papal.) 

The prophet saw a second beast. The first he saw had 
seven heads and ten horns ; but this one had only two 
horns, and was like a lamb. The first beast came up out 
of the sea; out of the wars and tumults of the world. 
This last comes silently up, Hke a plant out of the earth. 
This second beast exerciseth all the power of the first 
that had been healed. He also doeth wonders ; maketh 
fire to come down from heaven in sight of men, and de- 
ceiveth by means of those miracles, saying to them that 
dwell on the earth, that they should make an image of 
the beast that had been wounded by the sword and did 
live, and that no man should buy or sell, without the 
mark and number of the beast ; the mark being put, 
either "upon the forehead," as evidence of profession, or 
"on the hand," in token of service. 

If the first beast be Rome Christian, then the second 
can be nothing else than Rome Papal, or the Romish 
hierarchy; for he is connected with the first beast, being 
its legitimate offspring, and which he has caused all men 
to worship. The further description also fixes this inter- 
pretation, as it had two horns, viz., the two orders of her 
clergy, or two sources of her power, secular and spiritual. 
Its identification also with the image to be made proves 
the same thing, as we shall see. 

Image of the Beast. 

W€ do not agree with Newton, who is followed by 
Scott and Clark, in holding that the Pope is the image. 



44 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

nor yet with Elliott, who interprets it of the Ecclesiasti- 
cal Councils. We understand it of the second beast it- 
self; in other words, the Papacy. This identity is clearly 
inferable if not expressly stated. It will be noticed that 
the second beast neither makes the image nor worships it, 
but puts this upon the people. So Popery is not the direct 
creation of the civil government, but grew up among 
the people, and had civil power engrafted upon it. It will 
be noticed that the second beast had all the power of the 
first, whom it orders all men to worship. It not only 
had power to order the making of the image, but also to 
impart life and power to it, both to make it speak, and 
to require all men to worship it ; and yet, what is passing 
strange, and even marvellous, is that, though thus clothed 
with such regal power, being the successor and posses- 
sor of all the rights and prerogatives of the first beast and 
dragon, yet itself is not worshipped. The dragon and first 
beast are said to be worshipped (Chap. xiii. 4), but not 
the second beast. Wherefore? The answer seems easy, 
because the image and the second beast are one and the 
same, and worship rendered the one is worship rendered 
the other. The dragon merges into the first beast, and 
the first beast merges into the second, with the Papacy 
as the perfected image and culmination of the whole. 
Indeed, a mere glance is sufficient to show that the first 
and second beasts, and the image, are all associated to- 
gether, as members of a common firm, and actuated by a 
common impulse, the destruction of Christ's kingdom. 
As the horses in the seals are one, under different colors, 
so these are all one, only under different forms and dif- 
ferent stages of development. I therefore hold and earn- 
estly maintain, that the "Antichrist," or "Man of Sin," 
is not simply the dragon, or first, or second beast alone. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 45 

but all three combined : a triune, monster of iniquity, all 
working in harmony, and all under the control of the 
first great dragon, Satan; the acts of the one being the 
acts of the others, and worship rendered the one being 
worship rendered the others. 

We see, therefore — 

1st, Why no mention is made of any worship rendered 
the second beast; because rendered the image, its repre- 
sentative. 

2nd, Why the name of the monster is always ''beast," 
and never ''beasts" ; although spoken of as three, they are 
really but one. 

3rd, Herein, too, is the answer to the objections that 
have been raised : that the forty-two months, as the time 
given for the existence of the beast, as well as what is 
said concerning the shedding of the blood of the saints, 
is affirmed only of the first beast ; and further, that Popery 
cannot be both the Woman and the beast she was riding; 
the point of these objections being to relieve the Papacy of 
all complicity with the beast, and all participation in its 
guilt. The answer to it all is found in their essential 
unity. What is true oi. the one is true of all the others. 
The signature of any one of a firm being the signature of 
the whole. 

4th, We likewise can see why the second beast puts the 
mark and number of the entire beast upon all the subjects 
of the kingdom, because it stands and acts as the repre- 
sentative and accredited agent of the whole. 

5th, We will also see, as we further proceed, the exact 
fitness of the suggestive name as given the beast, viz., 
"The Latin Man," because Latin, in all of its transforma- 
tions, whether pagan. Christian, or Papal. 



46 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 



Number of the Name. 

The number of the name as given is 666. "Here is 
wisdom ; let him that hath understanding count the num- 
ber of the beast, for it is the number of a man" ; that is, 
a name, the number of the numerical value of its letters 
would amount to 666. As a challenge is here given, it is 
no evidence of presumption should we attempt, at least, to 
find out the number, especially as it is so closely linked 
with the intolerance of the beast, no one being allowed or 
tolerated, unless bearing the same. Now it is a remark- 
able fact that the name Lateinos, The Latin Man, the 
name of the fourth kingdom seen by Daniel, makes 666, 
both in Greek and Hebrew. This solution was first sug- 
gested by Irenaeus, as far back as the second century, 
and some three centuries before the rise of the beast. 
Says he, "Lateinos^ has the number 666, and it is a very 
probable solution, this being the name of the last king- 
dom of the four seen by Daniel." (Clark's Pub., 107.) 
And this has been the common interpretation among 
protestants ever since. As to the appropriateness of the 
name, we leave the reader to judge, since her letters, 
decrees and services are all in Latin. The two words in 
Greek and Hebrew are Lateinos and Romiith. 

^The word is spelled both with "ei" and "i," as Lateinos and 
Latinos. See Sehleusner's Lex. But the former and less com- 
mon spelling is here used, as Professor Stuart suggests, 'Tor the 
very purpose of concealment." Com. in Loc. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 4^ 

Greek. . Hebrezv. 

X .--..-. ^o *^ 200 

«-.-----! !»---.. 6 

^ - • 300 ^ ------ 40 

s - - 5 "• - 10 

t 10 ")-_---- 10 

^ 50 f*| ------ 400 

o -70 

9 ------- 200 666 



666 

Here we have, to say the least of it, a most singular 
thing, that the same name should have the same numeri- 
cal value in both Greek and Hebrew, the two languages 
in which the Scriptures were written.^ 

Ere the declaration of the downfall of this beast, 
known as the mystical Babylon, and for the encourage- 
ment of God's people, the prophet again sees the 144,000 
already sealed, standing upon mount Zion with the Lamb, 
and singing a new song; and also another angel flying 
through the midst of heaven, with commission to preach 
the everlasting gospel to every nation kindred, tongue, 
and tribe. 

In quick succession, another angel follows, crying, 
"Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she 
has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her 
fornication." 

Then follows the third angel, saying with a loud voice, 

*Dr. Clark gives yj Aanvrj BafftXtia^ the Latin kingdom, as the 
interpretation, for, says he, "No other kingdom on earth can be 
found to contain 666." Thus: ,j = g^ 7I = 30, a = i, r = 

300, d = 10, V = 50, >? = 8, /? = 2, a = I, <r = 200, 
« == 20, >i = 30, e = 5, £ = 10, a = I, = 666. 



48 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

and by way of warning or caveat, *'If any man worship 
the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his fore- 
head, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of 
the wrath of God, which is poured without mixture into 
the cup of his indignation." 

Thus, not only is the great city to be destroyed, but, ac- 
cording to the commission of the third angel, the curse 
shall even extend to all the worshippers of the beast, in 
every place and in every land. 

The world not being influenced by the warning of these 
three angels, then follows by anticipation the prophetic 
description of the execution of the threatened judg- 
ments. This is set forth under the figure of a harvest or 
vintage ; as much as to say, that the destruction, when it 
does come, will be so terrible, and the blood shed so 
abundantly, that, like the wine pressed from the grapes 
in the vintage, the stream would reach even to the horses' 
bridles; and this to extend "a thousand and six hundred 
furlongs," or two hundred miles, the exact length of the 
old papal dominions. How terrific the judgments yet to 
be visited upon the idolatrous and wicked city ! 

Seven Last Plagues. 

After these prophetic warnings and delays, as if loath 
to issue the order for the execution of the sentence, one 
of the four Living Creatures gave the seven vials, con- 
taining the seven last plagues to the seven angels, with in- 
structions to empty them upon the earth. 

First Vial. 

In obedience to the above instruction, the first angel 
poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 49 

grievous sore upon the man that had the mark of the 
beast, and them which worshipped his image. This sore 
or running ulcer, similar to one of the plagues of Egypt, 
was but the fit emblem of, and fulfilled in, the bktent in- 
fidelity, national and individual, social disorder and moral 
corruption of France in the latter part of the eighteenth 
century; and just before, and preparatory to, the great 
revolution which shook all Europe to its centre. Thus 
poured out upon France because at that time the lead- 
ing supporter of the Papal throne and worshipper of 
the image. In the days of Charlemagne she took the 
lead in restoring the Papacy ; and on account of her con- 
stant and unswerving devotion to the interest of the 
Papal See, her king received from the Pope the loving 
sobriquet, "The eldest son of the church," upon whom 
she leaned, and from whom she expected support. 

Second Vial. 

The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, as 
the other upon the earth ; upon the sea as the representa- 
tive of the turbulent seething masses of men ; and, as in 
another of the plagues of Egypt, the sea became as blood 
of a dead man. According to Alison,^^ over a million 
persons were put to death in France during the Reign of 
Terror. And not in France alone, but all Europe, accord- 
ing to the saying of Napoleon, that ''A revolution in 
France is sooner or later followed by a revolution in all 
Europe." And thus it was. As the result of the revolu- 
tion, all Europe was deluged in blood. It is quite easy 
therefore to see how this emblem of pouring out on land 
and sea fitly represents the murders and terrible scenes 

^"I., 310. 



50 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

of the French revolution, and which led to the revolution 
1 1 Prophesy. 

in Europe, in which human blood flowed as a sea, and 
which, instead of leading to repentance, only resulted in 
increased wickedness and rebellion of heart. 

Third Vial. 

The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers 
and fountains of waters, and they also became blood; 
this being but a continuation of the same judgments as 
in the two preceding vials, only more general, now per- 
meating the whole land, and reaching even to individuals 
and communities, as well as to the centres of govern- 
ments. The revolution, local at first, soon became gen- 
eral, and, like an ocean upheaval, covering all Europe 
with its disastrous effects, as already indicated. 

Fourth Vial. 

The fourth angel poured his vial upon the sun, and 
giving him power to scorch men with fire. In accord- 
ance with the general, and we may say the invariable in- 
terpretation of this symbol, the sun and moon standing 
for governments and rulers, this pouring out of a vial 
upon the sun, must mean ndthing more than military rule 
or despotism; and if Napoleon and his military contem- 
poraries did not scorch the world, it will never be again. 
Without enlarging, we point to the Napoleonic wars and 
the devastation and accompanying terrors and dismay 
that followed, and reaching all the governments of 
Europe, as the exact fulfillment of this A^al, both as to 
time and place, it being in close connection, following 
upon the very heels of the three preceding ones. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 51 

Fifth Vial. 

The fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the 
beast, and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed 
their tongues, and blasphemed the God of heaven; all of 
which was most strikingly fulfilled, beginning in 1798, 
when Rome fell into the hand of the French army, and 
the Vatican was robbed of its works of art, and the Pope 
compelled to flee; again repeated in 1868, when Victor 
Emanuel disrobed the Papal See of all temporal power, 
and Rome was thrown open to all the world. And later 
still, in 1900, in the disasters upon Spain, another seat of 
Papal power and supremacy. 

Sixth Vial. 

The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the river 
Euphrates, to dry up the river, and to ^'prepare the way 
for the kings of the East." In this prediction we think 
we clearly see reference to the Turks. Nor is this inter- 
pretation so arbitrary as may at first appear. In the 
sixth trumpet the horsemen were turned loose from the 
river Euphrates. This is generally admitted to refer to 
the Turkish conquests. If so, the drying up of that river 
is simply to dry up the source of that power ; in other 
words, the weakening, if not the entire overthrow, of that 
government. The Turkish power has for some time been 
waning. As far back as 1820, with the insurrection in 
Greece, Wallachia, and Maldovia; the taking of Algiers 
in 1829, and the loosening of its hold upon Egypt; and 
now upon its tottering throne we see indelibly stamped 
the unmistakable seal of prophecy forecasting its impend- 
ing doom. The present and past discontent and unrest 
are but the distant mutterings of the coming storm; 



52 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

nothing now supporting it but the strategic policy of the 
interested princes of Christendom. 

Battle of Armageddon. 

Before the pouring out of the seventh vial we have an 
account of the preparation for the final great struggle 
between the church and her enemies. Three unclean 
spirits like frogs are seen going forth to gather all the 
kings of the earth, with all their forces, to a place, called 
in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. As the battle is no 
real battle, but simply a struggle of principle, so no par- 
ticular locality is intended, but simply a place of de- 
struction, as the word seems to mean "Mountain of 
Megiddo" ; so designated from Megiddo, the place that 
witnessed the slaughter of the Canaanites in the days of 
Barak, when the stars fought in their courses against 
Sisera (Judg. v. 19), as well as the scene of the defeat 
of Josiah, and the great lamentation which followed. (2 
Chron. xxxv. 23-25.) 

Three Unclean Spirits. 

The sources from whence these unclean spirits proceed 
show the work to be done, as well as the agents to be em- 
ployed. 

1, One is to proceed from the mouth of the dragon; 
that is, Rome pagan, which points to pagan idolatry as 
one of the agents to be employed. 

2, The second from the mouth of the beast; that is, 
Rome Pseudochristian. In the union of church and state 
under Constantine, instead of a friend, the church only 
found, in her pretended ally, a bitter, relentless foe, a 
very beast indeed, sordid, fierce, corrupt, preying upon 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 53 

her flesh, and drinking her very Hfe's blood. This sym- 
bol finds its interpretation in every unholy alliance of 
Church and state, as well as in the different forms of 
worldly entanglements and associa'tions, leading alike to 
her enslavement and ruin. 

3, The third from the mouth of the False Prophet; 
that is, Rome Papal, the pretended expositor of the word, 
and yet the great perverter of the truth. This symbol 
points to the different pervertings and obscurings of the 
truth as the third method to be employed. 

Here then, in these three suggestive symbols, we have 
the different methods to be used by the adversary in the 
last great struggle. 

1st, He will, as far as possible, continue to keep the 
world under the chains of heathenish darkness and away 
from the knowledge of Christ, ever seeking to drown 
every uplifted and opposing voice, with the old cry, 
"Great is Diana of the Ephesians." 

2nd, He will seek to weaken and destroy the influence 
and power of the church, directly, if possible, by the use 
of Caesar's sword; if not, just as effectively, though more 
steathily, by means of worldly entanglements and alli- 
ances. 

3rd, By false and heretical teaching; if not entirely to 
deny and disown, to degrade the religion of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, by covering it up in a mass of worthless 
forms and ceremonies, so as to rob it of its power or else 
secure the same end by human additions and substitu- 
tions, calculated only to deceive and to lead to destruction. 

In the setting up of these and similar golden calves 
in different parts of the kingdom, these croaking spirits 
are ever calling to the people, and saying, "These be thy 
gods, O Israel," and thus preparing for the final struggle. 



54 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

which is to result in the destruction of the beast and 
False Prophet, as well as all the other enemies of the 
Lord. The time for this destruction is not now given; 
but we have an anticipatory description of it further on, 
in Chapter xix. 17-21. Only this caveat is here added: 
"Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that waltcheth 
and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they 
see his shame." 

Seventh Vial. 

The seventh angel poured out his vial in the air (uni- 
serval), followed by thunderings, lightnings, and the final 
great earthquake or upheaval, that is to usher in the 
Millennium; described as the greatest earthquake men 
have ever seen, or ever will see; when the great city is 
to be divided into three parts, cities of nations are to fall, 
and the great Babylon will come for remembrance be- 
fore God; and when the last judgment, like hail of the 
size of a talent, shall be visited upon the earth. 

Babylon. 

After the pouring out of these vials, we have presented 
a more extended and minute account of the great city of 
Babylon, spoken of as the great whore, or apostate church, 
the mother of abominations, with whom the kings of the 
earth have committed fornications; and also the judg- 
ments to be visited upon her. 

This apostate or persecuting church is presented as a 
woman, drunk with the blood of saints, and with the 
blood of the martyrs, and as a woman seated upon a 
scarlet beast, full of the name of blasphemies, having 
seven heads and ten horns ; the same as heretofore men- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 55 

tioned. And the woman was arrayed with gold and 
precious stones and pearls, insomuch as to excite the 
astonishment of John, which the angel sought to allay 
with the question, "Wherefore didst thou marvel?" I 
will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast 
that carrieth her." The following is the description and 
interpretation as given by the angel. 

Description. 

"The beast thou sawest was, and is not, and shall as- 
cend out of the bottomless pit." 

"The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the 
woman sitteth ; and there are seven kings ; five are fallen, 
one is, and the other is not yet, and when he cometh he 
must continue a short space. And the beast that was, 
and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and 
goeth into perdition." 

"The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sit- 
teth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and 
tongues." 

"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, 
these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, 
and naked, and shall eat her fleshy and burn her with 
fire." 

"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city 
which reigneth over the kings of the earth." 

The above description and interpretation, easily and 
unmistakably find their fulfillment in the Romish church, 
and nowhere else. 

The Man of Sin. 
That the Papacy is this apostate church, elsewhere 



56 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

styled the ''Antichrist," and "Man of Sin," th» culmina- 
tion and embodiment of the Dragon, and first and second 
beasts, and as such, the image and representative of the 
whole, will appear from the following considerations: 

1, From the very name, ''Catholic," which means uni- 
versal, at one time the only church, and therefore the 
only church to become universally apostate. 

2, It agrees with the time and place set for its appear- 
ance. It was to come out of one of the ten kingdoms of 
the fourth monarchy. Daniel speaks of it as "the little 
horn," with eyes, coming up in the midst of, and during 
the existence of the ten kingdoms into which the fourth 
kingdom was to be divided. If so^ then the time and 
place for its appearance have both passed. 

So the order and succession are given. First the Chal- 
dean, then the Medopersian, then the Macedonian, then 
the Roman, acknowledged by all, even the Papists, as 
the red dragon with seven heads and ten horns with 
seven crowns upon its seven heads ; then the first beast, 
with its seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon 
its ten horns ; then the beast with two horns, like a lamb 
but speaking as a dragon ; then lastly, the image and rep- 
resentative of the whole. In each remove the succeeding 
form not only takes the place, but also inherits the seat 
and power of its predecessor. The Dragon gave his seat 
and power to the beast with seven heads and ten horns 
(Chap. xiii. 2), and the woman in scarlet was afterwards 
seen seated upon, and riding the same. Rome Papal is 
but the continuation of Rome Pagan. The modern city 
is built on the ruins, with much of the same material, and 
garnished and adorned with many of the works of art 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 57 

of the ancient; the imag-e of St. Peter itself being the 
old image of Jupiter, with the two keys substituted for 
the thunderbolts of the former.^^ 

As the time and place for its appearance, and the 
order of the succession, are given, and with such definite- 
ness, if this be not the Antichrist, then there can be none 
in the future, unless this same order and succession re- 
turn, and the Dragon, — that is Pagan Rome, — be again 
brought to life ; a thing too unreasonable to be entertained 
for a moment. 

3, It has all the characteristics ascribed to the Anti- 
christ. 

(a). It was to be in the church. "Sitting in the femple 
of God," and therefore an apostate church. 

(b). It was to be a great power ruling the nations of 
the earth. "And power was given him over all kindreds, 
and tongues, and nations." Was there ever a greater 
nation than Rome, at one time the acknowledged master 
of the world ? Will there ever be a stronger religious or- 
ganization than the Romish hierarchy, with its different 
orders and equipments, with its cathedrals, treasures of 
art, its schools, nunneries, monasteries, covering the whole 
earth ; and with such power over kings and princes, hav- 
ing actually dethroned fifty of them at different times ]}^ 

(c), It was to be a persecuting power, making war 
upon the saints, shedding the blood of the same, and so 
abundantly as to be "drunk with blood." To say nothing 
about the ten awful persecutions under Rome Pagan, in 
which it is estimated that fifty millions of martyrs were 
slain, the victims of Rome Papal have simply been aston- 
ishing. Witness the horrors of the Inquisition, the inno- 

i^Horae, Apoc. III., 151. 

^^For names and dates see Trial of Antichrist, p. 246. 



58 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

cent slaughterings of St. Bartholomew, the bloody cruel- 
ties of the Duke of Alva, and the bitter persecutions of 
the Waldenses, which moved the pen of Milton to write : 

"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold; 
E'en them, who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones. 
Forget not; in thy book record their groans. 
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled 
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans 
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
O'er the Italian fields, where still doth sway 
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow 
An hundredfold, who, having learnt thy way, 
Early may fly the Babylonian woe." 

"It is estimated that in the war witTi Albigenses and 
Waldenses, there perished of these poor creatures, in 
France alone, a million. From the first institution of the 
Jesuits to the year 1480, that is, in a little more than 
thirty years, 900,000 orthodox Christians were slain. In 
the . Netherlands alone, the Duke of Alva boasted that 
within a few years he had despatched to the number of 
36,000 souls, and those all by the hand of the common 
executioner. In the space of thirty years the Inquisition 
destroyed, by various kinds of tortures, 150,000 Chris- 
tians." 1^ 

It is true that these were not all put to death by the 
Papacy, any more than Christ was crucified by the Jews ; 
but by instigators alike. "Quid facit per alium, facit per 
se." Whatever he does by another he does himself. It 

^^Newton, Vol. IL, p. 291. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 59 

was the first beast that was to make war on the saints, 
and to overcome them. (Ch. xiii. 7; Dan. vii. 26.) But 
the first beast was agent of the second, and the second 
approved and endorsed all the deeds of the first and be- 
came its accomplice. There is such a thing as a sinner by 
endorsement, as well as actual transgression; so all the 
bloodshed of the first was added to that of its own. 

(d), It was to he a blasphemous power. "Blasphemies 
upon her heads." "Sitting in the temple of God and 
thinking that he is God." "Speaking great words against 
the Most High." Thinking to change "times and laws." 
"With all power and signs and lying wonders." "Giving 
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils." All of 
which are found in the Church of Rome. 

We give the following quotations in proof of this high 
assumption : "Tu enim pastor, tu medicus, tu guhernator, 
tu denique alter deus in terris." . . Thou art a shepherd, 
thou art a physician, thou art a ruler; in one word, thou 
art another God}^ ''Considera te esse vicarium Christi, 
Christum Domini/' Consider thyself to be the vicar of 
Christ, the Christ of God. "Honorem qui dehetur Christo, 
secundum quod Deus est, deberi, papae; quia honor 
debetur potestati, sed uno est potestas Christi, secundum 
quod deus est, et papae." The honor which is due to Christ, 
because he is God, belongs likewise to the Pope ; for honor 
is due to authority; but the same authority belonging to 
Christ, because he is God, belongs likewise to the pope. 
"Deus, quia Dei vicariusJ' God, because the vicar of 
God.^^ What blasphemies ! 

"Hor. Apoc, II., 80. "III., 152, 153. 
See also additional quotations of a similar character given by 
Turretine, Opus IV., 162, 163. 



6o HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

To say, then, that we are to have another antichrist in 
the future, with the same characteristics, is simply that 
we are to have two antichrists identically the same; a 
thing as unscriptural as it is unreasonable. 

4, Notice other peculiarities mentioned with great 
minuteness by the angel, and which find their fulfillment 
nowhere else. "The seven heads are seven mountains," 
or hills, Rome being built on seven hills ; hence the sobri- 
quet, ''Urbs Septicollis/' city of seven hills. Their names 
are familiar, viz., Palatinus, Capitolinus, EsquiUnus, 
CaeHus, Aventinus, Quirinalis, Viminalis. The seven heads, 
or seven kings, are seven forms of government, already 
mentioned, viz., Kings,Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, Mil- 
itary Tribunes, Emperors, Dukedom. Five were fallen, 
viz., Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, Military Tri- 
bunes. These were already past in John's day ; "one now 
is," at that time, the Emperor ; one yet to come, and con- 
tinue a little while, viz.. Dukedom. "And the beast that 
was and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the sev- 
enth, and goeth to perdition." The beast was first in the 
form of Rome Pagan "and is not" ; that is, not then ex- 
isting in that form. "And yet is," at that time as Rome 
Christian ; "And is the eighth, and is of the seventh." 
The Papacy was but the continuation of the seven differ- 
ent forms already mentioned, and to be the eighth and 
last ; there being no ninth or tenth to come after it ; and 
to go to perdition or destruction. "And the ten horns 
which thou sawest are ten kings" ; the ten kingdoms al- 
ready mentioned, "which have received no kingdom as 
yet" ; that is in John's day ; but were "to receive power as 
kinsfs one hour with the beast," and continue for a little 
while, as only an hour compared with the life of the beast, 
which was to be 1,260 years. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 6i 

5, The number of the name furnishes additional proof. 
"Lateinos," the name of the last kingdom, as we have 
seen, aggregating, in the numerical value of its letters, the 
prophetic number 666. 

6, The same also appears from the ftdfillment of the 
prophecies concerning the judgments to he sent upon it. 
First, those set forth in the first four trumpets, and sec- 
ondly, in those in the sixth vial poured out upon the seat 
of the beast. These have been and are now being poured 
out. 

7, Also in the fulfillment thus far of the saying, that 
these kings would at last turn against her and eat up her 
flesh, as was the case in the British Isles, when she re- 
nounced Papal authority ; and later in France, in the revo- 
lution, when thousands of priests were put to death ; and 
later still, even in Italy, herself, the Pope being a prisoner 
to-day in the Vatican, upon his own confession, and in 
her very bosom. 

8, The condition of the world precludes all possibility 
of another man of sin, another apostate church, of the 
same characteristics, ever again arising with power to 
bring the whole world under its corrupting influence and 
crucifying power, requiring, as it would, centuries for 
its growth and development. Before this could be, the 
whole world of necessity must again be brought under the 
arbitrary sway of another, if not the same Caesar, which 
neither Scripture nor reason will for a single moment 
allow. Nothing less than a miracle will ever again place 
the ruling power of the world in the hand of any single 
man or nation. Up to the time of the Papacy the world 
was ruled by Caesar; but from then till now a struggle 
has been going on, which will result in the reversal of the 
order, and in the subdugation of Caesar to the church. In 



62 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

the end the church is to be the dominant power in the 
world, controlling her kingdoms and governments ; not, 
however, by the mistaken scheme of union of church and 
state, but by the dissemiination of her pure and holy prin- 
ciples, which, like leaven, are yet to leaven the whole earth. 

9, The testimony of the interpreting angel. To make 
the matter so plain as to leave no room for doubt or mis- 
apprehension, the angel adds, "The woman thou sawest 
is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the 
earth." Nothing could make the description more com- 
plete. Rome was the only city that then, or since, has 
dominated the world. 

10, The zvhole is confirmed by the consensus of opinion. 
The early fathers generally identified the little horn of 
Daniel with Paul's man of sin; and this sentiment has 
been growing ever since, and is now commonly held by 
the Protestant world. 

11, The commingling of so many minute and unusual 
particulars, and the merging of the whole into such a 
strange compound, which finds its parallel in nothing 
else, and running through so many centuries, forever 
fixes the interpretation, and as unmistakably points to 
the true Antichrist, as the footprints in the sand determine 
the owner and wearer of the shoe. 

In opposition to all this we are told : 

1st, That Antichrist means against Christ, the prepo- 
sition anti meaning against, and one that denies Christ; 
whereas the Papacy neither denies Christ nor is against 
him. 

2nd, That the historic facts do not agree with the pro- 
phetic dates, neither as to the time of taking away the 
daily sacrifice, nor the length of the profanation. 

3rd, That what is said concerning the shedding of the 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 63 

blood of the saints, as well as the time of the existence 
of the beast, refers to the first beast or antichristian Rome, 
and not the Papacy. 

As to this last point, the reader is referred to the pre- 
ceding paragraph on the second beast. 

As to the alleged disagreement between the facts and 
the dates, I must refer him to what I have to say upon 
this point further on. 

Concerning the name. Antichrist, I have now to say 
that the word does not necessarily mean against Christ, 
The preposition anti has two meanings, either against, 
or for, that is, in the place of another. ( See Schleusner's 
Lex.) In this sense it is frequently used in composition 
of proper names, as Elliott has shown (Vol. I., 67). Ac- 
cording to that meaning. Antichrist would be one who 
claims to be the agent or representative of Christ, or, so 
to speak, a Vice-Christ. As the world occurs nowhere 
else except in the New Testament, and only in John's 
epistles, and there only four times, why may not that be 
the meaning here? 

But admit the meaning to be in the sense of against, 
as generally understood, still the objection has no force ; 
for may not a man really be against, though seemingly 
in favor, of a person or thing? Witness the strange and 
apparently contradictory statement of the apostle Paul, 
"Some preach the gospel, even of envy." (Phil. i. 15.) 
Witness Peter's unquestioned zeal in defending his 
master, with the accompanying rebuke, "Get thee behind 
me, Satan, for thou savorest not the things that be of 
God." (Matt. xvi. 23.) Witness a similar mistaken zeal 
on the part of James and John, in asking for fire to 
come down from heaven to consume the Samaritans, 
and the sharp rebuke that followed : "Ye know not what 



64 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

manner of spirit ye are of." (Luke ix. 54.) Witness the 
untiring and even greater zeal still of the Scribes and 
Pharisees of old, compassing sea and land to make one 
proselyte, coupled with the unsparing denunciation of the 
Master, which seemingly only increases in intensity with 
the increase of zeal : ''Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, 
how shall ye escape the damnation of hell"? (Matt, 
xxiii. 33.) 

There is such a thing as "having zeal, but not accord- 
ing to knowledge"; such a thing as saying and doing 
great things with flourish of trumpets, and yet to no pur- 
pose ; such a thing as speaking with the tongue of angels 
and of men; having faith to remove mountains; giving 
all one's goods to feed the poor, and even the body to be 
burned, and yet, in the end all "sounding brass and 
tinkling cymbal." (i Cor. xiii. 1-3.) There is such a 
thing as prophesying in the name of the Lord, casting 
out devils in the name of the Lord, and doing many and 
wonderful works in the name of the Lord, and yet being 
driven away at last, as "workers oT iniquity," and that 
too with the still more striking announcement, "I never 
knew you." (Matt. vii. 22, 23.) Yea, more, — and the 
Master's word for it, — ^^there is even such a thing as being 
''False Christs," and with power to show signs, work 
wonders, and to deceive many. ( Matt. xxiv. 24. ) 

It is very easy, then, to see how a church may far out- 
strip all others in her charities and self-sacrificing labors, 
and after all be an apostate church ; the very mention of 
its possibihty being a prophecy of its existence; and if 
apostate, what else but antichrist? 

Another rule is applicable here. The Saviour lays It 
down as a basic principle of his kingdom, that he and his 
disciples are one. Whatever is done to thnm is done to 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 65 

him. Give but the cup of cold water to a disciple, and it 
is given him. So to persecute his people is to persecute 
him. ''Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" To be 
against the disciple is to be against him. How, then, can 
a persecuting church, "drunk with the blood of saints," 
be anything more or less than Antichrist? 

Then, there is still another sense in which a man can 
be against Christ without openly fighting him, and that is 
by sitting in his seat, and claiming his honors and pre- 
rogatives. This is to be against him, as well as to deny 
and reject him. This is what Popery has done. It 
makes the Pope the Vicar and Vicegerent of Christ. 
For it is only upon this ground he bases his claim to in- 
fallibility. It is as the Vicar of Christ, sitting in his 
seat, he claims homage, requiring kings to bow in humble 
supplication and kiss his feet, being addressed as "His 
Holiness," "My Lord God the Pope," and even v^or- 
shipped as another God, as in days past, and as previoiisly 
shown. As Vicar he claims the power of dethroning 
kings, as he has done in scores of instances ; of granting 
indulgences, as well as absolution of sins; the power of 
carrying the keys, and of opening and shutting the gates 
of Paradise; the power of making and enforcing laws 
and decrees. For how can the representative of God be 
subject either to man or his laws? He who is the Vicar 
of Christ must absolutely be above law. Paul describes 
his case exactly when he speaks of him as the "lawless 
one" (o avoiio? ) : the one not under, nor subject to law. 
(2 Thess. ii. 8.) And what is all this but robbing Christ 
of his rights and crown ? And what is a usurper but an 
Antichrist? 

This usurpation may also extend to erroneous teach- 
ings, as well as assumption of power. To preach any- 



66 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

thing but what Christ has taught is to be against him; 
for it is tearing down his authority and kingdom by set- 
ting up another, different and opposite. This is what the 
Papists have done; placing for the doctrines of Christ 
the comandments of men; such as baptismal regenera- 
tion, worshipping saints and images, praying to and for 
the dead, purgatory, Mariolatry, auricular confession, 
penance, canonization of saints, mass for the dead, im- 
maculate conception, forbidding to marry, and denying 
the cup to the laity. 

Schleusner, therefore, correctly defines the word when 
he says, ''The word antichrist, in John, and to this the 
old Fathers agree, stands for the whole crowd of false 
teachers and false apostles." (Lex. in loc.) The open 
enemy, who denies that Jesus has come in the flesh, is in- 
deed an antichrist, but not the only one, of whom, as 
John says, there are many. Equally so is every false 
teacher, and every usurper, claiming either to be Christ 
or to be in the place of Christ. 

Lamentation Over the Fall. 

After the description of the great city, we have pre- 
sented to us the great lamentation over its fall; symbol- 
ically set forth by the angel casting the millstone into 
the sea, and formally declaring its perpetual destruction. 

Then follows the rejoicing in heaven, and rendering 
thanks to God, over the destruction of the great enemy of 
God and man, as already accomplished ; for in prophecy 
distant things are spoken of as present ; together with an 
anticipatory allusion to the future marriage of the Lamb 
to his heavenly bride. As no account of the marriage is 
given, the nuptials to take place after the new heaven and 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 6y 

new earth have been set up, of which mention is made in 
the next chapter. 

Destruction of Remaining Enemies. 

After this we have a subhme description of the Faith- 
ful and True, riding upon a white horse, having many 
crowns upon his head, with his vesture dipped in blood, 
and his eyes a flame of fire, with a sharp sword out of his 
mouth, with the armies in heaven following upon white 
horses, and clothed in fine linen, white and clean, going 
forth conquering and to conquer, extending his kingdom 
with the destruction of his enemies, and with this superbly 
royal title emblazoned upon his thigh, "King of kings, 
and Lord of lords.'^ 

In connection with this slaughter, an angel is seen 
standing in the sun, and calling to all the fowls of the air 
to come and eat the flesh of kings and captains and mighty 
men. 

John saw, that in this great struggle, the beast and 
kings of the earth, gathered together to make war upon 
him that sat on the horse and against his army ; but that 
the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that 
wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived 
them that had received the mark of the beast, and that 
worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into 
a lake of fire, burning with brimstone. The remnant were 
also slain, and all the fowls were satisfied with their 
flesh. All indicative of the final and universal spread and 
triumph of the gospel, as well as the destruction of all 
the enemies of the Lord. 



68 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Binding of Satan. 

After the destruction of the beast and false prophet, 
and all the other enemies of the Lord, Satan himself 
was bound with a chain and cast into the bottomless pit, 
not, as Professor Milligan strangely interprets,^® that 
Satan is always bound to the Christian, and always loose 
to the sinner, but that his power was put under actual 
restraint, and that for a thousand years, which consti- 
tutes what is known as the Millennium. 

The Millennium. 

We understand the Millennium literally as a thousand 
years of rest and peace, and not simply^ a symbolic por- 
traiture of the intermediate state, as Professor Warfield 
would have us believe. ^^ That there will be such a period 
of rest and peace we doubt not, as this will be but the 
natural sequence from the binding and imprisonment of 
Satan. Besides, we have the positive statement, as well 
as the general analogy of scripture to guide us. "The 
kingdom will be given to the saints of the Most High." 
(Dan. vii. 2'].') ''The heathen shall be given for an in- 
heritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a pos- 
session." (Ps. ii. 8.) "The earth is to be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." 
(Isa. xi. 9.) So from analogy, as the seventh day is the 
sabbath of rest, the seventh seventh is the sabbatic year, 
and the seventh sabbatic the year of Jubilee, we would 
naturally expect the seventh thousand of the world to be 
a millennium of rest. There is an old tradition, two 

^^Exp. Lee, VI. 
^''Princeton Review. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 69 

hundred years before Christ, that the world is to continue 
6,000 years ; 2,000 years before the law ; 2,000 under the 
law; and 2,000 under the Messiah. And ever since the 
days of Irenaeus, the idea has currently obtained in the 
Christian church, that the seventh thousand would be the 
sabbatic thousand. 

Concerning this Millennium, we are not to understand 
that everybody will be converted. The wheat and tares 
will always continue to grow together to the end of time. 
"Many shall be purified, but the wicked will do wick- 
edly," says Daniel xii. 10. But simply that all organized 
opposition to the gospel will be done away with ; the prin- 
ciples of Christianity will prevail; the authority of the 
scriptures be recognized. Instead of war, political ques- 
tions will be settled by arbitration. When the conscience 
of the world is aroused as it should, and yet will be, the 
nations of the earth will feel that they are the "nation's 
keeper," as every man his "brother's keeper," and will no 
more allow mternecine wars, between nations, than in- 
dividual broils are now permitted on the streets by the 
bystanders. 

Whether Christ is to come at the beginning of the 
Millennium, and reign in person on earth during this 
period, with his saints, who are to be raised from the 
dead; or whether he will not come till the end of the 
world as judge, is a question which has long divided the 
world, Premillennialists holding the former view, Post- 
millennialists the latter. As I will, further on, and 
somewhat at length, discuss this question, I will now 
only say this much: that I cannot believe that the lan- 
guage is to be understood literally, and that either the 
martyrs, or any part of the dead, are to be raised up at 
the beginning, or rest of the dead at the termination, of 



70 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

the thousand years ; but figuratively, viz., that during the 
Millennium the martyr spirit will return, and be hon- 
ored, and represented as Being put upon thrones; and 
that after that the old spirit of ungodliness and persecu- 
tion will return, when Satan will be said to be again 
turned loose. 

Satan Loosed. 

After the thousand years Satan is to be loosed for a 
season, and go forth to deceive the nations. The world 
is again to become wicked and degenerate. If the binding 
of Satan is to produce the Millennium, his release will 
again restore the world to its former wicked state. Hence 
the inquiry of the Master, ''When the Son of man shall 
come, shall he find faith on the earth?" Also his em- 
phatic declaration, "As in the days that were before the 
flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giv- 
ing in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the 
ark, ... so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." 

Battle of Gog and Magog. 

Some time after the Millennium, — how long we know 
not, — will be the final struggle, when Satan shall seek to 
regain his lost supremacy, by stirring up the world and 
his associates everywhere, to make war against the saints, 
for so largely invading his domains during his imprison- 
ment. But God shall send fire from heaven and consume 
all the aiders and abettors of the unholy crusade, and the 
devil that deceived them shall be cast into the lake of 
fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, 
to be tormented forever. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 71 

Resurrection and Judgment. 

After this, — but when, no man knoweth, not even the 
Son, but only the Father, — will be the Resurrection and 
Judgment. 

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on 
it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. 
There was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, 
both small and great, stand before God. And the books 
were opened — (no new matter to be introduced) — and 
another book was opened, which was the book of hfe; 
and the dead were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books, according to their works." 

After all this the new heaven and new earth will ap- 
pear. "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the 
first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and 
there was no more sea." This was the new heaven and 
new earth in which righteousness was to dwell, of which 
Peter speaks, and which manifestly did not appear till 
after the Millennium. 

The Heavenly City. 

The prophecy most fitly and beautifully concludes with 
a dramatic description of the heavenly city, in connec- 
tion with the new heaven and new earth, with its pearly 
gates, its sapphired walls, its dazzling splendor, its burn- 
ing glory. As the inspired volume begins with the Para- 
dise lost, it is proper that it should close with the Para- 
dise regained, and end with the invitation to all shut out 
of the first to enter the second. After a solemn warn- 
ing not to add to, or take from, the words of the book of 
this prophecy, the whole concludes with the heavenly 
benediction, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with 
you all. — Amen," 



CHAPTER III. 

How Much Fulfilled. 

HAVING thus given a rapid sketch of what we con- 
ceive to be the meaning of these prophecies, we pro- 
ceed to inquire how much of them has been fulfilled f 

From the interpretations given, the answer to this ques- 
tion must be that we are rapidly approaching the end. 
My study of the question forces me to the conclusion that 
we are under the seventh trumpet, and in the after part 
of the fifth vial, which is being emptied upon the seat of 
the beast; and as the vials overlap at junctional points, 
also under the beginning of the sixth, which is being 
poured out upon the river Euphrates, to dry up the river ; 
said river being the Turkish power, for reasons already 
given. When these are finished, there will remain but 
one, the seventh, to be poured out in the air, universal. 
According to this scheme, the thing now in order is 
the final drying up of the Turkish power, including the 
Russian Government, the regular offspring and de- 
scendant of the third great beast of Daniel, and upon 
which the Greek church, the offshoot of the eastern leg, 
or empire, is so snugly seated as its rider ; these being the 
last armed foes resisting with the sword the spread of 
the gospel, and obstructing the way of the kings of the 
East. After which will be the universal outpouring of 
God's wrath upon all those who wear the mark of the 
beast; then the last great earthquake or upheaval, which 
is to usher in the Millennium. 

Before the Millennium three things are necessary : 
1st, The preaching of the gospel to every creature. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 73 

2nd, Completed accumulation of prayer. 

3rd, The universal outpouring of the Spirit. 

This is seed sowing time ; the running to and fro, and 
increasing knowledge. Never such a close union of 
different denominations; never such study of the scrip- 
tures, and dissemination of light; never before was there 
such activity in all Christian work, especially in the cause 
of Foreign Missions ; never such enlarged contributions 
to all the schemes of benevolence. So the accumulation 
of prayer has been going on for ages. Patriarchs, 
prophets and apostles, and the saints in all ages, have been 
earnestly uniting in the petition, "Thy kingdom come." 
The accumulation of prayer on high has already become a 
mighty ocean encompassing the throne of God, his plan 
being not to hear and answer each petition separately, 
but all at once, so that we who remain shall not have 
any advantage over those gone before, and all may have 
part alike in the "harvest home." Likewise, abundant 
assurances have been given for the universal outpouring 
of 'the Holy Spirit in the latter days. When, then, this 
seed sowing shall be fully accomplished, and this gospel 
preached to every creature, and this accumulation of 
prayer be fully completed, it will then only remain for 
God, in accordance with the promise, to pour out his 
Spirit in pentecostal effusion and power, and nations wTll 
easily be converted in a day. 

When Shall These Things Be? 

But is there anything to guide us in reaching a con- 
clusion as to when these things zvill he? We think there 
is, and certainly enough at least to lead to an approximate 
estimate. 



74 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

In order to see this, we have only to place side by side 
the statements of Daniel with those of John. 

According to Daniel, the first little horn (Papal) was 
to continue ''A time, times, and the dividing of time," 
That is, three and a half years, or 1,260 days. (2), The 
second little horn (Mohammedan) to continue, as we 
interpret, 1,290 days. (3), From the time the daily sacri- 
fice is taken away, and abomination making desolate set 
up, to the end, 1,290 days. (4), Blessed period to him 
that cometh to the 1335. 

According to John, the holy city was to be given to the 
Gentiles, to be trodden down forty-two months, or 1,260 
days. (2), Two witnesses in sackcloth to testify 1,260 
days. (3), The woman to remain in the wilderness, to 
be nourished, a time and times and a half, 1,26b days. 

It is generally agreed that the different forms of ex- 
pression, "time, times and a half," ''forty-two months," 
and ''1,260 days," are all the same, and refer to the same 
thing, and terminate with the 2,300 days, the only trouble 
being to know where these different dates begin, and to 
make them harmonize with the facts of history, as well 
as the interpretation of the Master concerning the setting 
up of the abomination of desolation at Jerusalem. 

Concerning the 2,300 days, the writer has no difficulty, 
as he understands it to refer to the time of the cleansing 
of the sanctuary, and not the length of its profanation; 
not that the sanctuary was to be defiled 2,300 days, but 
the vision was to extend thus far. How long shall be the 
vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression 
of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to 
be trodden under foot? ^And he said unto me unto two 
thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary 
be cleansed." As the vision includes all that was said 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 75 

concerning the ram and h'e-goat, as. well as the little horn, 
and the transgression of desolation, this answer simply 
asserts that it would take that many days to cover the 
whole, without telling when that period was to begin. 

It becomes, therefore, a matter of importance to deter- 
mine the beginning of the 2,300 days. It might be either 
the time of the vision, or the time of the notable little 
horn, or the time of the cessation of the daily sacrifice 
and the setting up of the abomination. " 

It cannot be the time of the vision, for that was about 
583 years B. C. and the 2,300, whether days or years, 
have long since passed, and the sanctuary not yet 
cleansed. 

Neither can it be the time of the removal of the daily 
sacrifice and the setting up of the abomination as gen- 
erally understood; for the angel expressly tells Daniel, 
that from the time the daily sacrifice v/ould be taken 
away, and the abomination set up, to the cleansing of the 
temple, would be 1,290 days. The daily sacrifice was 
taken away by the Romans in A. D. 70. Add 1,290 and 
we will have 1,360, and whether days or years, the time 
is past, and the sanctuary still remains polluted. 

We are therefore forced to the conclusion, that the 
2,300 days must begin with the Medopersian ram, and 
with his "standing" on the banks of the river, and not 
his first beginning. For the goat found him thus stand- 
ing. Alexander's first victory was 434 B. C. Add 2,300, 
and it brings us to 1866, which harmonizes with the other 
dates, viz., "The time, times and half time," the forty-two 
months and 1,260 days, and make them all terminate 
about the same time. 



76 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Abomination of Desolation. 

Three questions spring up here, ist, When was the 
daily sacrifice taken away? 2nd, The abomination of 
desolation, zvhat was it, and when set up? 3rd'^ What 
have Mohammedans to do with it? 

To the first question I reply, that, in the first and typical 
sense, the sacrifice was clearly taken away when the 
Romans under Titus took the city. The interpretation 
of the Master settles that. 

To the second I answer, that the Abomination so fre- 
quently alluded to was not simply the destruction of Je- 
rusalem, but something to he set up in after years. 

The part the Mohammedans will take in setting it up 
will appear further on. 

To a clear understanding of the matter, we must ever 
bear in mind that there Is here, as in other prophecies, 
a double meaning, one outward, and one inward, one the 
shadow, and the other the substance. The student can- 
not fail to see this in the language of the Saviour, already 
alluded to in that mysterious blending of these two, where 
he speaks of the destruction of the city and coming judg- 
rrient in almost one and the same breath. Indeed it is 
utterly impossible to understand his meaning upon any 
other supposition. 

Daniel just as clearly alludes to two different things, 
one near, the other remote, when he speaks of the "ships 
of Chittim" (Ch. ix. 30), generally understood of the 
Romans, who were so soon to come, and yet at the same 
time declares that the vision was "For many days,^' and 
"To the end," and not to be accomplished till the comple- 
tion of "the scattering of the holy people." He may have 
been speaking directly in Chapter vili. of the profanation 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. ^^ 

by Antiochus, as many think; but as so much said is 
wholly inappphcable to him, the conclusion is unavoid- 
able, that he was speaking also of another and more im- 
portant spiritual abomination, to arise further on. So 
the Master, while telling of the abomination by the 
Romans, so near at hand, clearly had in his eye another 
and more detestable abomination in the more distant fu- 
ture. Hence his caveat, ''Let him that readeth under- 
stand," clearly intimating the existence of a deeper mean- 
ing and a different abomination. 

The apostle John just as clearly refers to a future 
abomination. He says nothing in his vision about the 
destruction of Jerusalem, for that was already past. He 
was banished, as we believe, under Domitian, and not 
Nero^ ; the city was therefore already destroyed, and the 
sacrifice removed. From his standpoint the coming ills 
were all in the future — something yet to be set up — and 
something dealing entirely with the church of God in the 
latter days; in other words, the Antichrist, or Man of 
Sin, of which Paul also speaks, and from the rise of 
which, and not from the destruction of the city, we are 
to date the beginning of the forty-two months, the "time, 
times and a half," three and a half years, the 1,260 years; 
when the real and true sanctuary was to be cleansed ; and 
when, after the fullness of the Gentiles had been brought 

^For tlie reasons : ( 1 ) , John, the la&t of the apostles ; Domitian, 
the last of the Cajsars — suggestive contrast ! ( 2 ) , If standing in 
John's day, and so soon to be destroyed,^ unaccountable that no 
mention is made of it in the Apocalypse. ( 3 ) , Express testimony 
of Irenaeus. Speaking of the Apocalypse he says, "For that was 
seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, toward the 
end of Domitian's reign." {Clark's Pub., II., 138.) Eusebius 
quotes the siarae in his history, p. 102. 



78 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

in, the Jews would return to their land, not, however, to 
rebuild the temple, and reinstate the Jewish worship, as 
Dr. Rutledge and followers affirm. 

According, then, to the concurrent testimony of Daniel, 
John, and the Saviour, with all of whom Paul so fully 
agrees, some great abomination was to be set up in the 
future, apart from, and after the destruction of the city, 
and the dispersion of the people, which was to be the be- 
ginning of the 1260 period, and to which the former 
simply pointed as prophecy and type. 

What then was that abomination? And when set up? 
Daniel tells us very plainly where to look for it, as well as 
the time of its appearing. He tells us that it was to be 
found in the two feet of Nebuchadnezzar's image, after 
the division of the Roman empire into ten subordinate 
kingdoms, and would appear in the form of two horns 
or powers — the one imbedded in, and growing out of the 
one foot, and the other imbedded in, and coming out of 
the other foot ; both, therefore, appearing about the same 
time; the one the regular descendant of the four great 
empires ; the other the offspring of the third great beast, 
and though seemingly outside in its origin, yet so in- 
grafted in, and identified with, as to become one with the 
eastern leg, and to act in unison with' the western, in its 
tyranny over the earth. 

A bird's eye view of the prophetic utterances of Dan- 
iel will aid in this investigation. 

In Chapter vii. he tells of a strange and mysterious 
king coming out of the fourth or Roman monarchy, and 
also described in Chapters ix. and xi. as the king who 
would destroy the city and take away the sacrifice. 

In Chapter viii. he tells of another king of fierce coun- 
tenance, and understanding dark sentences, to come out 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 79 

of the third beast, or Grecian monarchy, of whom it is 
also said that he would take away the sacrifice, and set 
up an abomination. 

In Chapter xi. he gives the general history of his 
people, from the time of the Persian empire till the end 
of time; and more especially how that, after alternate 
struggles between the kings of Syria and Egypt, the 
upper and lower portions of Alexander's kingdom, one 
on the north and the other on the south of Jerusalem, 
and therefore spoken of as the king of the north and the 
king of the south, the "ships of Chittim" would come, and 
"Arms should stand," generally understood of the 
Romans, described as a wilful king, who would neither 
regard the God of his fathers nor the desire of women; 
who would pollute the sanctuary, and take away the sac- 
rifice; who would magnify himself, speaking against the 
God of gods, worshipping a strange God, even the god 
Mauzzim, or defenders, — (patrons of saints and 
images) — and for a while rule with power and great 
riches. 

I understand the concluding verses (40-45) to refer 
to the Romans and at a later period, at the end of time, 
and therefore the nomenclature, "the king of the north," 
and ''king of the south," changes, so that the king of the 
north would be the Saracens, and the king of the south 
the Turks, "at the time of the end," therefore, — that is, 
the time that shall lead to the end, — the king of the north, 
or Saracens, would push at the Romans, as they did, and 
the king of the south, or Turks, would come against him 
like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen and with 
many ships, as they did. He, that is, the Turks, would 
enter the countries and overflow and pass over. He 
would also enter the glorious land, and subdue countries. 



8o HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Edom and Moab would escape, but Egypt would not es- 
cape. Yet tidings out of the north (Russian invasion), 
and from the east (yet in the future, perhaps Persia), 
shall trouble him. He shall plant the tabernacles of his 
palace (his camps) between the seas, in the glorious 
mountain. Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall 
help him. 

In Chapter xiii. he tells of the time of the continuance 
of the real pollution, and the length of time necessary for 
the destruction of the two aforesaid kings mentioned in 
Chapters vii. and viii., viz., 1260, and 1290 years for 
perfecting the cleansing of the real spiritual temple ; and 
1335 as the blessed period. 

Here, then, we have (i). The different nations of peo- 
ple from whom the oppression is to come — the Romans 
and Turks. (2), The different forms of oppression, two 
wicked kings, represented by two horns. (3), The dif- 
ferent peoples oppressed ; not only the Jews, but also 
the Gentile world. (4), The time of continuance of the 
oppression, 1260 and 1290 years. (5), The period of 
complete and blessed deliverance, viz., 1335. 

In hunting for these two horns, or wicked kings, we 
need not be long in the search. Interpreters are generally 
agreed that the first little horn of Daniel, Chapter VII., 
refers to the Papacy. We are just as fully persuaded that 
the other little horn in Chapter viii. finds its counterpart 
in Mohammedanism. We may not be able to go as far 
as Sir Isaac Newton, who held that Mohammedanism was 
the second beast of John, yet we must believe that be is 
the second horn of Daniel. To make the two horns refer 
to the Papacy, as some have done, is to confound things 
entirely different, fail to explain all parts, and besides a 
useless repetition, unusual in scripture. The aptness too 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 8i 

of the description fixes the interpretation. "A king of 
fierce countenance"; Mohammed profifered only submis- 
sion or the sword. "His power was mighty, but not of 
himself" ; Mohammed inherited no hereditary dominion, 
but was a self-made man. "Understanding dark sen- 
tences." How applicable to the Koran ! — a book remark- 
able for "its sententious obscurity," as Scott has well 
said, and as every one knows who has ever read the same. 
He was also to "stand against the Prince of princes." 
Mohammedanism seeks the destruction of the supremacy 
of Christ. "Cast down some of the host of heaven," and 
"in his hand craft would prosper," all of which find'Their 
counterpart in that delusion. 

Here, then, in these two contemporaneous and singu- 
larly strange and mysterious religions, one imbedded in, 
and by natural descent coming out of the one foot, and the 
other imbedded in by amalgamation, and identified with 
the other foot of Nebuchadnezzar's image, we have the 
two horns by which the world was to be, and has so long 
been gored. The one. Popery, with its sister, the Greek 
Church, with the Czar, (contraction of Caesar) as its 
head ; and the other, Mohammedanism. Rome stands as 
the representative of the one, Constantinople of the other. 

The reason why these two are selected and empha- 
sized out of all the other false religions is, as we imagine, 
first, because of their historical connections, and seconclly, 
on account of their blasphemous assumptions and tenden- 
cies, the one making the Pope the Vicar of Christ, with 
the Virgin Mary as the intercessor, and the other in en- 
throning Mohammed in the place of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, "Great is Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet," 
being the Muezzin's daily cry. In all of which the 
throne and prerogatives of Christ are ignored, if not 



82 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

directly assailed, which cannot be said of Buddhism, 
Shintooism, Taoism, or any other false religion; for, 
though these may be even more degraded and degrad- 
ing, they are nevertheless free from such blasphemies. 

Then there is something quite suggestive as to the 
association, if not in the actual kinship, of the two. 
Alike and yet unlike, enemies and yet friends, like Herod 
and Pontius Pilate, making friends in order to their 
better prosecution of their unhallowed warfare upon 
the church of God. Of Amsterdam it has been said 
that it was a "Vulgar Venice." So of Constantinople it 
might also be said that it was a "Vulgar Rome." It 
shows, though in a subordinate degree, all the leading 
features of the imperial city. It imitates in these par- 
ticulars: (i), Once the Capital of the Empire; it still 
claims supremacy over the one-half, as Rome over the 
other. (2), Like its rival, it is built upon seven hills, 
though not as distinctly defined as those of the former. 
(3), It has its great church edifice, the Mosque of St. 
Sophia, but not equal in grandeur to the magnificent 
structure of St. Peters at Rome. (4), Both are intol- 
erant and exclusive, though the sway of the former is 
not so extensive as that oT the latter. (5), The one 
directly in the path of the Jew, and the other in the way 
of the Gentile. It is for this outward, if not inward af- 
filiation, that has led Barnes and others to adopt the view 
making Mohammedanism the false prophet, to be cast 
at last with the beast into the burning flame. 

What we have already said is a sufficient answer to 
the third question, "What has Mohammedanism to do 
with the pollution of the sanctuary f With the first de- 
struction and first pollution it has nothing to do. That 
was the work of the Roman, as we have already seen. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 83 

But it has had much to do with its after pollution and 
continued disturbance, and interference of its service 
(^j' auTov Ooata erapaxdr/). By him was the sacrifice 
disHirhed, as the Septuagint has it ; much to do 
with the setting up, and keeping set up, the second, real, 
true abomination ; much to do with interfering with the 
return of the Jews, and cleansing of the true tabernacle. 
The Romans first took the city and trampled it under 
foot. The Mohammedans afterwards took it, and further 
degraded it by locating their Mosque upon the very spot 
occupied by the temple of Solomon. Thus the two unit- 
ing in the humiliation; the one showing contempt by 
razing it to the ground, the other by the substitution of 
its iniquitous rites for its holy service; and not only 
united in the humiliation, but equally so in their opposi- 
tion to the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning the 
final tri'imph of the gospel, the bringing in of the ful- 
ness of the Gentiles, and the return of the Jews, if not 
to their native land, at least their fealty to their rejected 
Messiah. 

Behold then the picture! This double abomination, as 
well as double domination! (See frontispiece.) One from 
within^ and the other from without the temple of the liv- 
ing God. Both standing for centuries with their feet 
upon the neck of the Jewish and Gentile world! And 
the two, like Egypt and Babylon of old, though acting 
separately, yet conjointly to the same end ; and, uncler 
the skilful management of the great adversary of souls, 
to prevent the spread and final triumph of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom. But, like all the other enemies of the 

^This is the reason why the Papacy, rather than Mohammedan- 
ism, is emphasized as the antichrist, because within the pale of 
the church. 



84 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

gospel, these too must perish. Whoso arrays himself 
against the Lord Jesus Christ may expect, sooner or 
later, to be overwhelmed, and to be brought to the dust. 
The confession of the apostate Julian will yet be ex- 
torted from the lips of every vaunting foe, "Thou hast 
conquered, O Galilean." Jesus is yet to reign over all 
the earth. Every knee is to bow, every lip to confess. 
The little stone cut out of the mountain without hands 
is now smiting, and will continue to smite, the image in 
his feet till the whole is destroyed. The time of their 
triumph is given as 1,260 years to the former, and 1,290 
to the latter; or, if both of these refer to the same 
event, the latter number will be the required time for 
the complete finishing of the work of destruction, and 
1,335 years for the recognition, if not full establishment, 
of the kingdom. 

Beginning of these Prophetic Periods. 

If the true and real abomination was not set up at the 
destruction of Jerusalem, but in after years, we are at 
once relieved of all the difficulties which have beset in- 
terpreters in their vain attempts to harmonize the pro- 
phetic periods with that event. We have only to in- 
quire when this man of sin within, and this king of fierce 
countenance without, one in the east and the other m the 
west, were set up. Their continuance was to be 1,260 
and 1,290 years. To know their beginning is to know 
their ending. • As they rose about the same time, they 
will doubtless also go out about the same time. 

There are three different dates given by different inter- 
preters for the rise of the beast, the setting up of the 
abomination, and therefore the beginning of the 1,260 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 85 

years. Some fix it as early as A. D. 553, when the em- 
peror Justinian issued his edict recognizing John 11. as 
head of the church. Others fix the time in the year 606, 
when Emperor Phocas proclaimed Boniface HI. uni- 
versal bishop. And others again, as late as 752, when 
Pepin of France conferred on Pope Stephen the exar- 
chate of Ravenna in return for his confirming act in 
settling upon him the crown of France. The year usually 
adopted by a majority of interpreters is the middle one, 
viz., 606. By adding 1,260, the life of the beast, we 
have the year 1866^ as about the time for the termina- 
tion of the prophetic period. And it is a most remark- 
able fact that the revolution in Italy under Victor Eman- 
uel, beginning about that time, resulted in 1868 in the 
unification of Italy, the forever taking away from the 
Pope his temporal power, and throwing open the gates of 
Rome to the world, and thus bringing about the destruc- 
tion of the political power, or death of the first beast, 
and clearly establishing the correctness of the day year 
principle of interpretation. 

But Daniel gives another im.portant date, viz., 1290, 
when another disaster might be expected to befall the 
kingdom of the beast, and also pointing forward to a 
happy period a little further on, adding, "Blessed is he 
that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hun- 
dred and thirty-five." A^d to these years 606, and we 
have as the important years 1896 and 1941. The year 
1898 witnessed the further outpouring of the fifth vial, 
this time upon Spain, another seat of the beast and sup- 
porter of Papal supremacy. What the year 1941 will 

'This date long ago fixed by Faber, Newton, Scott, Gill and 
others. 



S6 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

bring forth remains to be seen. By that time we con- 
fidently expect a wonderful change and development in 
the progress of events, if not another complete upheaval. 
It may not be possible, nor is it necessary, for us to 
know the exact date for the fulfilment of these impend- 
ing prophecies; it is enough to be assured of their near- 
ness. The mariner may not be able to see the land, yet 
his log book and sounding line tell him that he is nearing 
the shore. The driftwood told Columbus of his nearness 
to land. We may not know of the day or hour, nor even 
the year, of the fulfilment of these prophecies, and yet 
know that they are near at hand, even in sight. As no 
interpreter has placed the time for the rise of the beast 
earlier than 533, and none later than 753, we feel war- 
ranted in saymg that the 1260 years began somewhere be- 
tween these extremes, and therefore must expire some- 
where in the present century. As the rise of the Papacy 
was gradual, so also will be its decHne. Like the rest of the 
beasts of which Daniel speaks, though their dominion 
would be taken away, their "lives would be prolonged 
for a season." (Chapter vii. 12.) As in the old Baby- 
lonish captivity, intended as the type, there were several 
removals and returns, so doubtless it wHl be here. 
Neither Popery nor Mohammedanism is to be destroyed 
in a moment, but, like all other false religions, to be con- 
sumed gradually. That their destruction has already 
commenced none can doubt. One of the horns, the po- 
litical, was broken off when he ceased to be a temporal 
ruler. The other, the religious, will gradually fall away, 
and years may be required for its complete eradication. 
The signs and indications all point to the rapid fulfil- 
ment of the remaining vials. And we see no reason why 
we may not expect to see, with the beginning of the next 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. Sy 

century, which is to introduce the seventh or sabbatic 
thousand of the world, the overthrow of the beast — ^the 
complete drying up of the Euphrates, — the destruction 
of all the open enemies of the church, and the last great 
upheaval which is to usher in the Millennial reign! 



Concluding Remark. 

I have endeavored in the preceding pages to give, in 
brief outline, the meaning of these prophecies, as they 
appear to me, and according to the scheme as usually held 
by leading interpreters, and also ventured to give some 
dates as to the time of their fulfilment. In doing this 
I have adhered to the purpose of leaving out all minor 
details, and only sought to give the general outline, tfiat 
they might be the more easily comprehended. How far 
I have succeeded in giving a clue to the general meaning 
I must leave the reader to judge. To my own mind the 
interpretations and explanations given have generally 
been not only satisfactory, but in many instances over- 
whelmingly convincing. While there is a great deal that 
is obscure, as in everything else around us, a great deal 
also appears very plain. As to the correctness of the 
dates given, the future alone will determine. I may here 
add, that nothing has more confirmed me in the truth 
of Revelation than the study of this book. It bears upon 
every page the impress of a divine hand. It could never 
have been written by an uninspired pen. The general 
correspondence between the symbols employed and the 
leading facts of history is so obvious that one must be 
blind not to be able to see the agreement. The one fits 
the other as the shoe the foot. The very fact, too, that 
the correspondence has been running for eighteen cen- 



88 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

turies establishes the identity with all the certainty of a 
demonstration; the recorded facts being but the unmis- 
takable adumbration of the prophetic utterances, as a 
man's shadow is but the easily recognized outline of 
himself. 

Practical Lessons. 

There are several practical lessons to be drawn from 
the study of these prophecies. 

I, There is much to be learned in the department of 
Christian Apolegetics, not only in the accurate delinia- 
tion of future events, but more especially in the adjust- 
ment of the hebdomadal feature with the facts of history. 
We meet with the number seven on every side. There 
are seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven 
vials, seven thunders, seven candlesticks, seven stars, 
seven angels, seven heads, and so through the entire book. 
Now instead of the constant use of the number seven 
being evidence of a studied scheme, and thus casting 
suspicion upon the true predictive character of the book, 
as Professor Milligan intimates, in nothing do we more 
clearly see the divine hand than in this very correlation 
of the plan of creation and of the prophetic scheme. It 
is the same as the argument for the indestructibility of 
the Christian Sabbath drawn from the correlation of the 
seven days of the week with the seven periods of crea- 
tion. None but an omniscient and omnipotent Creator 
could have so mutually arranged and adjusted before- 
hand the several periods of history to the hebdomadal 
periods of prophecy, or periods of prophecy to those of 
history. The whole plan or scheme is too far removed 
from the sphere of human power and human knowledge 
to be attributed to an uninspired pen. Every one who 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 89 

neglects the study of this book has much to lose, not 
only in the quickening of his devotion, but also in the 
deepening of his convictions in the truths of revelation 
and the inspiration of the scriptures. 

2, The second great lesson taught is the danger of 
uniting church and state, and it matters little which be 
made supreme. The whole history of civilization, as 
well as of the church, is but a standing protest against 
every such unhallowed alliance. When the state becomes 
the guardian and controller of the faith of God's people 
and God's cause, and Caesar undertakes to enforce the 
teachings and doctrines of the scriptures ; or when the 
state tamely submits to the dictation of the church as 
its sovereign head, then the fagot, the prison, the inqui- 
sition, and the guillotine, will be the next things in order. 
When state authority and religious bigotry are vested 
in the same person, then the world may well tremble. 
No wonder we have presented to us in this prophecy this 
union as the last and the greatest of the threatened woes. 
It is high time the world was seeing the extreme peril 
of uniting church and state. God's plan is unquestionably 
for his church to rule the world, but not in its organic 
capacity, but simply by the dissemination of its prin- 
ciples, and the instruction and preparation of her rulers 
for their high and responsible position. 

3, The third lesson Is the still greater peril flowing out 
of her affiliation with the world. Every such union 
means only degradation and loss of power. Israel en- 
tered into union with the Philistines, and the confusion 
of speech which followed attested the evil fruits of the 
alliance, the children speaking "half in the language of 
Ashdod and half in that of Israel." Ahaziah joined 
his forces v/ith those of wicked King Joram, and a 



90 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

mortal wound was the recompence of his folly. When in 
early times ''the sons of God took to themselves wives 
of the daughters of men," all flesh soon corrupted itself, 
and a disastrous flood became the sequel of the story. 
In every instance of worldly conformity in which human 
methods and schemes are adopted, the church is in- 
variably the loser. Instead of lifting up the world, she 
misses her aim, and only drags herself down. This is 
one of the perils which confronts her to-day. The float- 
ing foam and rushes on the bosom of the sea no more 
clearly show the direction of the moving tide than mod- 
ern innovations and changes the direction in which her 
bark is now drifting. Instead of occupying the high 
vantage ground assigned her by her Lord, that of entire 
separation from the world, she is seen in the vale below, 
"striving with the potsherds of the earth." Instead of 
keeping her garments ''unspotted and pure," she is allow- 
ing them to become bespattered and begrimed with the 
filth and pollution of a corrupting world. Witness the 
introduction of politics and platform themes into her 
pulpits, and in some instances even the arts of the buf- 
foon. Witness the profuse floral decorations, artistic 
music, operatic solos, stereopticon performances, fairs, 
suppers, entertainments, rummage sales, and the like,* 
all connected with, and resulting in, the lowering of her 
standards, the abolition of discipline, the compromising 
of the truth, and the consequent weakening of her influ- 
ence and power. See the different forms, too, of "will 



^These things are done by individuals, and not by the church, 
we are told; then why the deceptive addendum, "For the benefit 
of the church?" If the Lord and his church be the beneficiaries, 
then of necessity they must be silent partners in every such 
transaction ! 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 91 

Vv^orship/' the numerous self-appointed sacrifices, the mul- 
tipHcation and substitution of "Societies," '"Leagues," 
and "Associations" of every sort, springing up Hke 
worthless weeds on every side, and clamoring for a place, 
and demanding equal rights in the courts of the Lord's 
house with the inspired appointments of his word. In- 
stead of Being simply "the Church of God," standing 
alone in her queenly simplicity and beauty, she is fast 
becoming an aggregation of human societies. Instead of 
being rt] h/Xtxrri the called out, of God, and that in 
every instance as the only motive for action, we are asked 
to recognize the necessity of the superadded imprint of 
human hands, in the form of an "Endeavor," on the part 
of man; thus virtually charging the appointments of 
God with incompleteness and imperfection. Need we 
wonder at the withdrawal of the Spirit, the superficial 
character of conviction, and the numerous spurious con- 
versions, which, instead of adding to her strength, only 
mar her beauty, misrepresent her life, and foster her 
pride in swelling the roll of her membership. The ques- 
tion asked by the Lord of his people of old may well be 
repeated here: "Who hath required this of your hand, 
to tread my courts?" (Isaiah i. 12.) We feel fully as- 
sured that nothing is gained by all this "daubing with 
untempered mortar." The cause of God needs no such 
support from human hands any more than the uplifting 
and steadying of the overarching firmament. "To obey 
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
rams." (i Sam. xv. 22.) The fate of Uzzah should ever 
stand as a warning against all such familiar and unlaw- 
ful handling of the ark of the Lord, as well as the 
threatened plagues pronounced upon all those who would 
"add to, or take from, the words of the prophecy of this 



g2 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

book." What the church needs is another cleansing by 
driving out "the sellers of doves and the money chang- 
ers" which infest her courts. Let her do this, and bring 
in her tithes and offerings, as directed, and she will soon 
witness the opening of the heavens, and the outpouring 
of a blessing there will not be room enough to receive. 
4, The fourth is a lesson of encouragement and hope 
to every Christian worker. Notwithstanding his peo- 
ple's guilty toying and idle dalliance with the world, his 
word cannot fail. Prophecy still bespeaks the dawning 
of the morning and the early rising of the day-star. 
From the signs of the times, the day of the church's vic- 
tory and final deliverance is near at hand, even at our 
very doors. The truth is spreading, the Sun of righteous- 
ness is rising over all the earth with healing in his beams. 
Ethiopia is stretching out her hand to God, the isles of 
the ocean waiting for his law. The present great strug-. 
gle in the far East, no matter what the result, will, like 
all others of similar character, only be for the furtherance 
of the gospel, and more rapid bringing in of the Millen- 
nial reign. The little stone cut out of the mountain 
without hands is rapidly increasing, and will soon become 
the great mountain, and fill the whole earth. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 93 



PROPHETIC CHART. 

FOUR GREAT EMPIRES. 
I. Chaldean. — ( Lion ) . 
II. Medopersian. — (Bear). 

III. Macedonian. — ( Leopard ) . 

IV. Roman. — Diverse from all others ) . 



Kingdom of Christ. — Little stone to fill the whole earth. 
Fulfilled at the Millennium. 



Woman in the Wilderness. — The True Church. 

Seals. — The church under Pagan rule. 

1. White Horse — Conquest and prosperity. 

2. Red Horse — Dissension and strife. 

3. Black Horse — Trouble and distress. 

4. Pale Horse — General dismay. 

5. Souls of Martyrs — Persecution. 

6. Earthquake — Revolution; first upheaval under Constantine. 

(Sealing of 144,000.) 

7. Seventh seal, including the seven trumpets. 

Trumpets. — The church under semi-Pagan rule. 

1. Fire and hail — Alarie and Goths. 

2. Burning mountain^ — Attila and Huns. 
". Falling star — Genseric and Vandals. 

4. Smiting sun, moon and stars — Subversion of Western empire. 
0. Locusts — Mohammedan conquests. (First Woe.) 



94 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

6. Euphratean Horsemen — Turkish conquests. (Second Woe.) 

{Slaying of witnesses.) Second earthquake or upheaval 
under Luther. 

7. Seventh Trumpet, including the seven vials. (Third Woe.) 

Vials. — The church under Papal rule. 

1. Upon the earth — Sore of infidelity. 

2. Upon the sea — Reign of terror. 

3. Upon the fountains — General bloodshed following. 

4. Upon the sun^ — Military despotism. 

5 Upon the seat of the beast — Rome and other supporters. 

6. Upon the river Euphrates — Destruction of Turkish power. 

(Battle of Armageddon) — Great struggle of principle. 

7. Upon the air — Universal — third and last great earthquake or 

upheaval preparatory to the Millennium. 



Millennium. — Emancipated church under Christian rule. 



Satan Loosed. 

Battle of Gog and Magog. 

Resuekection and Judgment. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 95 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Medopersian Earn B.C. 5M 

Commencemeiit of 2,300 days B.C. 434 

Termination of 2,300 days A.D. 1866 

Rise of the Papacy 606 

Rise of Moliammedanism 606 

First Seal— White Horse 96-180 

Second Seal— Red Horse 180-193 

Third Seal— Black Horse 193-243 

Fourth Seal— Pale Horse 243-248 

Fifth Seal— Souls of martyrs 284-304 

Sixth Seal— Earthquake 306-337 

First Trumpet— Alaric and Goths 395-410 

Second Trumpet — Attila and Huns 410-4^0 

Third Trumpet — Genseric and Vandals 450-453 

Fourth Trumpet — Subversion of Western empire, 476-566 

Fifth Trumpet — Saracenic conquests 612-762 

Sixth Trumpet— Turkish conquests 1281-1672 

Slaying of witnesses 1517 

First Vial— Sore of infidelity 1792 

Second Vial — Reign of terror 1793 

Third Vial — Wars which followed 1798 

Fourth Vial — Imperial despotism 1800 

Fifth Vial — On seat of the beast 1798 

Sixth Vial — Drying river Euphrates 1820 

Seventh Vial — On the air — universal. 

Millennium 200O 



96 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Three important dates are given by Daniel and John, viz., 
1260, 1290, 1335. Interpreters generally agree that these periods 
start at the same timCj but differ as to the time to begin the 
count. Some begin with the year 533, some with 606, and 
others again with 753. If we adopt the first, viz., 533, and add 
to this number the above mentioned figures, we will have, as the 
important years, 1793, 1823, 1868. If we adopt the second, viz., 
606, we will have the years 1866, 1896, 1941. If we adopt the 
last, viz., 753, we will have, as the important years, 2012, 2042, 
2087. According to either interpretation the Millennium can- 
not be very far off. 

As to the time for the resurrection and judgment, we abso- 
lutely know nothing, for nothing has been revealed. "But of that 
day and that hour knoweth no man — no, not the angels which 
are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." 



PART II. 
SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 



Every coming but a dim adumbration of the final coming.— Tre^icA, 



PART II. 

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

THE entire Christian world are agreed as to the fact 
of the second coming, but differ widely as to the 
time; the one part holding that he will come before, and 
the other after, the Millennium. It will be perceived at a 
glance that a world-wide distance separates these two 
classes, and that the plan of interpreting the whole book 
of Revelation, as well as other portions of the scriptures, 
will depend entirely upon which of the two theories we 
adopt. 

In order to a full and intelligent understanding of the 
relative claims of the two we must know precisely the 
things asserted and believed. 

POSTMILLENNIALISM. 

The view of the postmillennialist is simple and easy 
of comprehension. He holds that Christ will not come 
till the end of time, when he will return as he went up, 
in great pomp, with a retinue of angels, and shall sit 
upon his throne, when all the living and the dead shall 
appear before him, the latter being raised from their 
graves, and be judged out of the books, and every man 
to receive as his works shall be, whether good or bad. 

Premillennialism. 

The theory of the premillennialist, on the other hand, is 
compHcated, and not so easy of comprehension, requir- 

LOFC. 



100 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

ing study fully to understand it, even the advocates them- 
selves differing among themselves on several points. As 
far as I can gather it, they hold that Christ will first 
come to meet and receive his people, at which time there 
will be a resurrection of the just, and a change of liv- 
ing believers, when these shall all be caught up to meet 
the Lord in the air. This is what they term "The Rap- 
ture," and which is imminent, and may occur at any mo- 
ment, the object being to take the church out of the 
tribulation about to be visited upon the earth. The 
church b^ing thus removed, the great tribulation, which 
is to continue through Daniel's week of seven years, will 
follow, when all the judgments will be visited, and vials 
of God's wrath poured out. During this period Anti- 
christ will appear and the Jews be restored, in part or 
whole. At the end of this tribulation period the Saviour, 
with his saints, will descend to the earth in flaming fire, 
to execute judgment on the earth. This is what they 
term the ''Revelation," and what they regard as the sec- 
ond coming proper. Then the judgment of the nations, 
or of all the living, spoken of in !Matthew xxv. 31-46, to 
determine who shall be subjects of the millennial king- 
dom, will take place, which will be followed by the de- 
struction of Antichrist, the beast and false prophet, 
these having arisen during those seven years, and the 
binding of Satan. Then the resurrection of the tribula- 
tion saints, those who lived and died during the tribula- 
tion period, and which they term the ''Gleanings," and 
v.-hich completes the first resurrection. Then the Millen- 
nium, which is ''one continuous judgment," and in which 
Christ shall reign with his saints on earth for one tKou- 
sand years. After this Satan is to be loosed, and then 
destroyed, with Gog and Magog. Then the erection of 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. loi 

the great white throne, and the resurrection and judg- 
ment of the remaining dead, who they say are only the 
wicked dead. 

The above outline I take from a little work, Jesus Is 
Coming, by "W. E. B." pubUshed by Fleming H. Revell 
Co., one hundred and twenty thousand copies of which 
have been issued, and which has the endorsement of such 
men as Dr. J. H. Brooks, Dr. A. T. Pierson, Dr. A. J. 
Gordon, and Dr. R. A. Torrey and others, and quite a 
number of religious journals, and which I take as giving 
a fair representation of that side. 

Dr. Seiss in his lectures on the Apocalypse, which has 
reached its eighth edition, and comprising in all five 
thousand sets, and which may also be considered as 
standard, puts the case a little differently. In order to 
escape all complications connected with the different 
resurrections, he presents a clear-cut viev/, boldly assert- 
ing that there will be but two resurrections, one for the 
righteous before and at the beginning of the Millennium, 
and another of the wicked at the judgment at the last 
day; and if not asserting it in so many words, clearly 
teaching that there is to be no resurrection at all after the 
beginning of the Millennium, except of the wicked, the 
righteous being exempt from death after that period, be- 
ing secretly caught up to heaven at different times. 

He also differs from "W. E. B." in the length of the 
tribulation period. Instead of seven years he makes it 
forty, and even seventy years and more. The first com- 
ing for his saints he terms the "parousia," and Kis com- 
ing with them the "epiphania." The period of about 
seventy years immediately preceding the Millennium will 
comprise the "parousia," the seals, the trumpets, the 
vials, the judgment of the living ; the "epiphania," the rise 



102 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

and destruction of Antichrist, and the binding of Satan. 
During the Millennium the saints will reign with the 
Lord on earth, ruling the nations with a rod of iron, 
which he terms ''shepherdizing the nations" of the re- 
deemed earth, the inhabitants of which will perpetuate 
themselves upon the earth by a method of generation 
which he terms ''after the flesh," the resurrection saints, 
however, being of the royal family," whose peculiar pre- 
rogative it will be to reign over the others. 

Dr. Rutledge in his recent work, Christ, Antichrist 
and Millennium, a very able, exhaustive, and in some 
respects a most remarkable book, presents the same gen- 
eral view, differing, however, in many important particu- 
lars. For example, he denies the imminency of Christ's 
coming, but puts it in the distant future. He makes 
the "man child," and not the Holy Spirit, the hindering 
power. He dissents from the idea that there will be 
no righteous in the second resurrection. He also differs 
from them in this, that Christ will not reign on earth, 
but in heaven ; his reign, however, will be over the earth. 

In order to assist the reader the better to keep' in mind 
the different parts of this complicated scheme, I make the 
following diagram: 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 



103 



DIAGRAM. 





M 








Meeting 








7 years 








■4-> 


1 s 
1 ^' 


1 


E 




T. P. 


J.W.D. 




Church 




Millennial 
Kingdom 




A 


Ant. J 


1000 years 




B R.T.S^ 




A. — Resurrection of Dead Saints. 




B. — Change of the Living. 




T. P. — Tribulation Period. 




J.- 


-Judgment of 


the Living. 





Ant. — Antichrist. 
R. T. S. — Resurrection of Tribulation Saints. 
J. W. D. — Judgment of the Wicked Dead. 
E. — Eternity of Glory. 



To many of my readers the foregoing will doubtless 
appear to be new, and even startling. No matter what 
ipterpretation overweening critics and scholars may 



I04 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

draw out of certain texts, I seriously doubt whether one 
tithe of the things herein asserted would ever suggest 
themselves to the plain and unsophisticated reader of 
the scriptures. We submit, therefore, at the very outset, 
that a theory that runs so far counter to the common 
trend of Christian thought and sentiment, as held by or- 
dinary Bible readers and students, as to startle by its 
very announcement, must at once awaken suspicion as 
to its unsoundness. Standing, therefore, upon the high 
vantage ground which the easy, and most direct and 
simple, interpretation of the scriptures unmistakably 
gives, I proceed to point out some of the more serious, 
and even fatal difficulties with which the premillennial 
theory seems to be hopelessly environedi. 

I. Number of Comings. 

In the first place, the reader will please notice the num- 
ber of comings. There are three of these : 

1, At the rapture, when Jesus shall come for his saints. 

2, At the revelation, when he shall come with his 
saints,, to se up his mediatorial kingdom. 

3, At the last day, when he shall come to judge the 
ungodly. 

Now we submit just here, if it be not a misnomer to 
speak of these three distinct comings as simply one, and 
characterize them as his second coming. They hold that 
he is first to come for his saints, and then with his 
saints, and that this last is his second coming. But why 
not the first as well, especially as it is so emphasized 
with the sounding of the trumpet, the voice of the arch- 
angel, the resurrection of the dead, and the change of 
the living? If the coming with the saints be a coming, 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 105 

why not also the coming for the saints? To avoid this 
dilemma and reduce two to one, they call the first simply 
a ''meeting'' ; but how can there be a meeting without a 
coming? And with what propriety can a coming, osten- 
sibly for the purpose of gathering his saints, and result- 
ing so gloriously in the raising of the dead and chang- 
ing the living, be styled only a "meeting" ? Dr. P.utledge 
terms it simply a "stage" in the coming. But how a 
stage, when the whole transaction is described to be, "in 
a moment, in the twinkHng of an eye," and at "the last 
trump" ? How many stages can there be in the twinkling 
of an eye? 

It seems that Paul has settled this matter in i Thessa- 
lonians iv. 15, where he answers the question about our 
sleeping dead, and where he says nothing about different 
stages or stoppings on the way, or mentions any other 
but one coming and one meeting. Says he, "At the com- 
ing of the Lord, God will bring with him those who are 
asleep in Jesus"; those whose spirits are already with 
him in Paradise, whose bodies will then be raised when 
the living saints will be changed, and all together be 
caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be forever with 
the Lord." 

Here we have clearly set forth — 

1st, That there will be but one coming. At the com- 
ing, rrjv T.apovawj of the Lord. The apostle speaks of 
but the one coming, and emphasizes it as the coming, 
without giving even a hint of any other. 

2d, He also describes the manner of the coming. It is 
to be both with and for the saints. He is to come for the 
bodies of the dead saints, all at once ; also for the living 
saints, all at once. But for the souls of dead saints 
he is to come one by one, which he does at death, and 



io6 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

this, in advance of the other coming. How different 
this from the account of the premillenniaHst, that he is 
to come for all his saints, living and dead, at once! 
Paul says he is to bring a part with him, and come for 
the rest. They say he comes for all, and at once. Their 
theory simply shuts dead believers out of Paradise, for a 
season at least, and is in direct conflict with the old 
theology, that "The souls of believers do immediately 
pass into glory." Paul would comfort with the thought 
that our departed friends are in the bosom of their Lord ; 
their theory robs them of that comfort, by holding that 
their souls are still on earth, and he is yet to come after 
them ! 

3d, The time is also set for the coming. This is to be 
at the ''last trump" (i Cor. xv. 52), and therefore the 
final gathering. No other falling asleep in him, no other 
awaking of the dead, after this. And yet premillennial- 
ists tell us that this is only the first stage in his com- 
ing, and gravely assure us that there are "^gleanings/' 
yet to be gathered ! But if gleanings, how gathered, and 
when? Is another trumpet yet to sound after this, de- 
clared by the apostle to be the ''last" to awake those 
who, if not ''born," yet seemingly died ''out of due 
time"? Is Christ to come in person a second time after 
these, or is it to be simply another "meeting," without 
a coming? Obviously, if there is to be an after glean- 
ing, then the whole transaction is to be repeated; for 
those who constitute the "gleanings" will also be asleep 
in Christ, and he must go after them, that he may also 
bring them with him when he comes. The conclusion 
seems inevitable, either no death alter the rapture, or 
else a second coming for his saints. If he is to come 
back after these, then there will be a second coming for 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 107 

his saints. If he is to come again with them, as they 
claim, this also will be a second coming with them. Ac- 
cording then to their theory, there must be two distinct 
comings, both for and with his saints. 

Furthermore, how make this second coming stop with 
the Revelation as the only coming, when they themselves 
teach that he is to come again at the last day, to judge 
the ungodly dead? If he is to come again as judge, this 
will clearly make the third coming, unless the Lord is to 
remain on the earth after the Millennium, until the final 
judgment, as Dr. Rutledge affirms. But in this they are 
confronted with this dilemma: either to join issue with 
the apostle as to the continuance of the earthly reign, or 
else admit a third coming. The language of the apostle 
is explicit in this, that he limits the reign to one thou- 
sand years. If they lengthen that reign, they place 
themselves in direct conflict with the inspired word. If 
they end it with the Millennium, they leave Christ on 
earth, a disenthroned king, or else require him to return 
to heaven, and if so, to come again, which will make it 
the third time for him to comie. The language of the 
scripture is everywhere "come again"^' ; Jesus says "come 
again" ; the angels say "come again" ; so also the apostles, 
prophets, and the church in all ages ; but the theory says 
come again, and again, and again — ^three times. We 
leave it with the premillennialist to explain by what pro- 
cess of computation three can be equal to one, or one 
equal to three? 

II. Number of Judgments. 

The same, and even greater, incongruities appear in 
connection with the number of judgments. The uni- 
form style of the scriptures is to speak of the judgment 



io8 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

as one, as "the judgment." The word is never in the 
plural — never judgments. They declare unqualifiedly 
that all men are to appear before the judgment seat of 
Christ, without any allusion whatever to different classes, 
times, or occasions. In the parable of the talents there 
was but one time of reckoning; so in that of the hus- 
bandman, the angels were to separate the wheat and tares 
on the same day. In the judgment in Matthew xxv. 
31-46, the righteous and wicked both appeared before 
the same august throne, and received sentence on the 
same occasion. And yet they would have us believe that 
there are to be two distinct judgments, and two distinct 
occasions, one for the righteous and one for the wicked ; 
and that, too, at periods far removed from each other. 
If the sacred vv^riters wished to say that we were all to 
appear before the same bar, both righteous and wicked, 
and be judged at the same time, we do not see how they 
could be more explicit. If the Saviour intended to teach 
that the righteous and wicked were to stand before him 
on the same occasion, and at the same hour, we do not 
see how he could have used language more to the pur- 
pose than when he said, "before him shall be gathered 
all nations, and he shall separate them as a shepherd 
his sheep from his goats. Then shall he say to the one. 
Come ye blessed of my father, and to the other, Depart 
ye cursed." To say that this was a judgment simply 
of nations is too trifling for serious consideration. Na- 
tions are never welcomed or excluded from heaven as 
nations. It will never be said of them, "these shall go 
away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into 
life eternal." We are to stand in judgment before God 
as individuals, and not as a nation. 

In order to make the incongruities the more apparent, 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 109 

we have only to consider the different judgments they 
allow, and the different classes to be judged. The dif- 
ferent judgments are — 

I, Of the righteous at the rapture. 

2,Of the living described in Matthew xxv., at the 
Revelation. 

3, Of the wicked at the last day. 

The classes, according to the theory, to be judged are: 

1. The pious living and dead at the rapture. 

2. The pious living at the time of the revelation. 

3. The pious dead during the tribulation. 

4. The living, good and bad, at the judgment of the 
■ nations. 

5. The pious living during and after the Millennium. 

6. The pious dead during and after the Millennium. 

7. The wicked at the judgment at the last day. 
Here, then, are seven distinct classes. Let us see what 

provision their theory makes for their judgment. They 
tell us of two visible judgment thrones, and two visible 
judgment scenes. One is to judge the nations, namely, 
all the living, good and bad, recorded in Matthew xxv. 
31-46, and the other, the great white throne, at the last 
day, before which all the wicked dead are then to appear, 
and no one else; "wicked sinners," as Dr. Seiss ex- 
presses it. 

A mere glance is enough to show the classes neces- 
sarily omitted in this scheme. 

(i). The living and dead to be taken up at the rapture; 
when are they judged? (2), Then the tribulation saints; 
when are they judged? (3), And the resurrected 
martyrs, when are they judged? (4), So the pious liv- 
ing and dead, during and after the Millennium ; are these 
all to escape? (5), And lastly, the wicked living at the 



no HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

time of the last judgment; for, according to their theory, 
only the wicked dead are to be then judged. 

Thus this theory of only two judgments, one for the 
living and one for the dead, falls, self-impaled, like 
Saul upon his own sword, as it makes no provision what- 
ever for the judgment of any of the dead saints at the 
rapture, the tribulation, or final judgment; nor yet for 
any living wicked that might be living at the time of the 
last judgment. 

And not only does it make no provision for these sev- 
eral classes, but also makes a distinction that is wholly 
unaccountable; for the question at once springs up in 
every thoughtful mind, why this discrimination? Why 
this judgment at the revelation, and not at the rapture? 
Why this judgment of only the then living and not the 
dead, at the judgment of the nations, in Matthew xxv. ? 
And this judging only the dead, and not the living, at 
the last day? And why this double judgment, one in 
Matthew xxv. and one in Revelation xx. ? And this 
difference, a part of the righteous judged secretly and 
a part openly ? — a part of the wicked now, and a part not 
at all? Why in advance, formally and openly, send a 
part of the wicked to perdition, when the same sentence 
of exclusion is again to be formally pronounced against 
the remaining wicked, at the last day? We must con- 
fess these things seem to us a little confusing. 

To meet all the exigencies of the case. Dr. Seiss has 
found it necessary to deny altogether the existence of 
any formal judgment in the case of the righteous. 
"Christ never mounts the throne of judgment towards 
his church and people," says he (Vol. III., 326), "the 
judgment being the result of antecedent judgment." 
(Vol. n., 325.) But when this antecedent judgment? 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. itt 

He fails to tell us. If at all, it must have been in pri- 
vate, or secret. But how is this assertion to be recon- 
ciled with the saying of the Master, that the righteous, as 
well as the wicked, shall stand before him; or that of 
Paul, ''For we must all appear before the judgment seat 
of Christ," must be left with him to explain. 

To us he seems to be confounding two things entirely 
different, namely, the judgment of condemnation, and 
that of awards. If by judgment he means acquittal 
from condemnation, we are in hearty accord with him. 
But this is not the point before us. The point we are 
considering is the formal judgment which precedes the 
awards, which is quite another thing, and is everywhere 
insisted on in the scriptures, which none shall escape, 
not the angels, nor yet even the devils in hell, for they 
are reserved in chains of darkness for the judgment of 
the great day. 

On the other hand, W. E. B. would avoid the dif- 
ficulty by making the day of judgment an indefinite 
period, "and not a day of twenty-four hours." (P. 67.) 
But this brings no relief. The thing that concerns us is, 
not the continuation, but the number of judgments. A 
court may run through a long time, and yet be the same 
court. The problem before the premillennialist is simply 
this: how can his assertion about two judgments sit- 
ting on two different occasions, for different purposes, 
and a thousand and more years apart, one to judge the 
living nations, and the other to judge the wicked dead, 
be made to agree with the scripture account of one judg- 
ment? In opposition to both of these views, we place 
the following express declarations of the word of God : 
"Who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appear- 
ing." (2 Tim. iv. I.) "And before him shall be gathered 



112 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

all nations ; and he shall separate them one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats." (Matt. 
XXV. 32.) ''Because he hath appointed a day in the which 
he will judge the world in righteousness." (Acts xvii. 
31.) 'Tor the hour is coming, in the which all that are in 
the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; 
they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, 
and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of 
damnation." (John v. 28, 29.) "Reserved in everlasting 
chains under darkness, unto the judgment of the great 
day." (Jude. 6.) And leave with them the problem of 
harmonizing their theory of a double judgment with 
these express statements of the word of Goci. 

Then it might be interesting to inquire what would be 
the status of these glorified saints, the fruits of this 
judgment of the nations as they term it. They are not 
the ingathering, for that, as they say, is already com- 
pleted at the rapture; nor the gleanings, for these are 
the tribulation saints, as they declare. Will they be in- 
cluded with the martyrs, and reign too with the Saviour ? 
Or is it intended that special honor be thus put upon 
them, inasmuch as they should thus be openly recognized 
as inheritors of the kingdom, and invited to enter therein, 
and thus made superior to others, arid made to sit upon 
his throne, and to judge at last the pious dead as well as 
the wicked? And thus have one-half of the saints sit- 
ting in judgment upon, and lording it over the other 
half? Where do we find any such teaching in the 
scriptures? Why put such honor, and confer such spe- 
cial prerogatives upon the one, and place such seeming 
humiliation upon the other? On the other hand, the 
scriptures everywhere, as a rebuke alike to the sordid 
spirit of Diotrephes and the ambitious aspirations of the 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 113 

sons of Zebedee, teach that the same rules of judgment 
will apply alike to all, and that even the living shall not 
prevent, or anticipate, or get any advantage of the dead. 

ni. Number of Resurrections. 

The same incongruities exist in connection with the 
resurrection. They speak of only two resurrections; 
one of the righteous, and one of the wicked; but their 
theory clearly demands more than that. The following 
is the enumeration we make: 

1, Of the righteous, when Christ comes at the rapture. 

2, Of the tribulation saints, who die during the tribu- 
lation period, termed by them "the gleanings." 

3, The rest of the dead, at the close of the thousand 
years. 

4, The last resurrection of the dead, at the last judg- 
ment. 

5, Dr. Seiss asserts that there was a resurrection of the 
righteous even before John's day; for he interprets the 
elders in the first vision as the first risen saints. This 
will make another class. 

6, Then ih^ righteous people who died during and 
after the thousand years. So here is another resurrection 
of the righteous, making six in all, whereas they say 
only two. 

To reconcile all this they claim that the wicked are 
raised up all at once at the last day; and that the resur- 
rection of the righteous will be at different times, as Dr. 
Seiss afifirms is to be understood as one, in the sense that 
these dififerent resurrections are all included under one, 
and that the first resurrection, spoken of in Revelation 
XX. 5, covers the whole field, and includes all the saints 



114 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

arisen at different times, from John's vision of the elders 
till after the martyrs. But why stop with the martyrs? 
Why not include all who lived during and after the Mil- 
lennium, and thus make it one continuous resurrection, 
that it may meet all the demands of their theory? 

Now we submit, whether this interpretation does not 
violate every law of speech? How can six be made to 
mean one? Where is the scripture warrant for such a 
computation? The common reader, when he reads about 
the resurrection, thinks of but one. When the Saviour 
said, ''In the resurrection they neither marry nor give in 
marriage," he thinks of but one. Again, when he said, 
"I will raise him at the last day," the simple-minded 
reader would understand just what is said, the last day, 
and not a day before or after. The resurrection is 
everywhere spoken of as a common event. The word, 
like the term ''Judgment," is always in the singular, 
never in the plural; never resurrections. If it were the 
intention of the sacred writers to say that there was but 
one comm.on resurrection, how else could they express 
themselves? Why, then, did the Holy Spirit use lan- 
guage so calculated to mislead? And why did the 
Saviour, the great teacher, not correct the error? There 
was a notion of a common and general resurrection in 
his day. Hence the language of Martha, "I know he will 
rise in the resurrection at the last day." XJohn xi. 24.) 
Not at the rapture, or the revelation, or end of the age, 
but the last day. How, then, account for his not correct- 
ing this, as he did every other abuse of misinterpreted 
law, and that, too, when discoursing upon that very sub- 
ject? With him not to correct was simply to endorse. 
His very silence fixes the common interpretation as the 
correct one. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 115 

The theory of two resurrections, one for the righteous 
and the other for the wicked, one at the rapture and the 
other at the end of the world, is further confronted with 
the following serious and insurmountable difficulties. 

1, It directly conflicts with the scripture teaching as 
to the time set for the destruction of death. Paul de- 
clares that the "last enemy to be destroyed is death," 
which places it beyond the battlefield of Gog and Magog. 
John states that the destruction will not be till after the 
last great judgment, when death is to be cast "into the 
lake of fire." H there is to be no Resurrection after the 
rapture, then no death ; and if no death, then here comes 
the irreconcilable disagreement between their theory and 
the teachings of the apostles. Paul teaches that the de- 
struction will be at the resurrection, whenever that is to 
be. (i Cor. xv. 54.) They say the resurrection will be 
at the rapture; if so, death will be destroyed at the rap- 
ture; and yet John says, not till after the last judgment! 
How reconcile the two? How destroyed both at the 
resurrection and after the last judgment, unless the resur- 
rection be in close conjunction with the final judgment? 

Number of Resurrections. 

2, It makes no provision for the resurrection of the 
righteouszvho live during and after the Millennium. That 
there will be such no one will deny. The very idea of 
Millennium is that of triumph. The binding of Satan 
warrants the same conclusion. If there be righteous dur- 
ing that period, they must die, and if they die, they must 
be raised up. But how, since the "last trump" has al- 
ready sounded, the last resurrection accompHshed, and 



ii6 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

Christ already come for and with his saints?^ Their 
theory obviously requires another and after sounding of 
the trumpet, and another and after resurrection of the 
dead. If another resurrection be necessary to reach the 
postmillennial saints, then what becomes of their theory 
that none but the wicked are raised up at the last day? 
Dr. Rutledge admits a resurrection during that period, 
but says the number will be ''infinitessimally small." But 
how does the smallness of the number affect the argu- 
ment? To admit the resurrection of any is but to sur- 
render the whole scheme. He also terms this a "supple- 
mentary resurrection"; but Paul says nothing about a 
supplementary resurrection, either in i Corinthians xv. 
or I Thessalonians iv., where he handles the subjects so 
exhaustively and concludingly. Dr. Seiss, seeing the dif- 
ficulty, asserts that none but the wicked will then die; 
and further, to relieve the situation, suggests the possi- 
bility of secret invisible translations, as in the case of 
Enoch and Elijah. He speaks of death not as death, 
but as a "stealthy ereption," invisible to the world at 
large. (Pref. Vol. HI.) Believers are not to die, but are 
"stealthily erepted," snatched up; and this ereption in- 
visible and also inaudible, though accompanied with the 
sound of the trumpet ! all of which will require a stand- 
ing miracle, or else a change in the very constitution and 
course of nature, of which the scriptures say nothing. 

"The Greek is very striking and unanswerable, ev tt) avaarafrel. 
£v TTj soyarrj rj^xepa. The article -tt] makes it the resurrection; 
and: there is no preposition ex out of, to make it mean out of, or 
from among ihe dead, so much insisted on by W. E. B. Nor yet 
is the word arwv age, but, rjfispa at the last day. Martha was 
clearly speaking of the common resurrection at the last day. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 117 

To what great straits premillennialists are reduced to 
maintain their theory! 

3, A third difficulty is the living wicked at the end of 
the world. They interpret the description of the last 
judgment literally, and make "dead," mean dead and 
nothing else, and therefore the wicked dead. But what 
about the Hving wicked at the time? How place the Hy- 
ing in the category of the dead ? Are they all to be slain, 
that they may then be raised up? To restrict the final 
judgment to the dead is completely to ignore the exist- 
ence of any living wicked at that time ; and if not, either 
require their slaying, or else to allow them to escape the 
judgment altogether. If the living wicked are included 
in that judgment, so may the living righteous; and if the 
living righteous, then their interpretation fails. The 
theory, then, is confronted with this fatal alternative, 
either to deny the existence of any living wicked at the 
time, or else admit the judgment of all, both living and 
dead, righteous as well as wicked. 

4, There is another and still more serious difficulty con- 
fronting the theory, and that is the great chasm that 
separates the Millennium and the last judgment. The 
continuance of the present order of things after the Mil- 
lennium will necessitate death and resurrection. In order 
to avoid the difficulty growing out of that continuance, 
premillennialists are compelled wonderfully to shorten 
the time between the thousand years and the last judg- 
ment, and even find it necessary to place the final judg- 
ment at the end of the Millennium, and allowing little 
or no time to intervene. But have they forgotten that 
Satan is again to be turned loose for a season, and that 
the nations of the earth are again to be deceived by 
him ? Have they forgotten that he is to gather his forces 



ii8 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

from the four quarters of the earth, and in number, "as 
the sands of the sea," and thus prepare for the great and 
final struggle of Gog and Magog? All of which will re- 
quire time ; how much we are not told. The expression, 
'little season," determines nothing. The Saviour said, 
''Things shortly to come to pass," and yet eighteen centu- 
ries have glided by, and none of them, as they affirm, are 
yet accomplished. The evolution of God's plans is always 
slow. He can be patient because eternal, as Augustine 
expresses it. For aught we know ages may intervene; 
and reasonably so, even an hebdomad of Millennial peri- 
ods ; thus making the incoming of the heavenly rest the 
final jubilee. Whether long or short, the intervening 
period will require death and resurrection, unless there 
be a change in the constitution and course of nature. 
To insist upon that change before the final restitution of 
all things, and the making of the new heavens and new 
earth, seems to us nothing but the wildest fancy, without 
the slightest foundation in scripture. 

Thus it appears that the theory of a double resurrection 
and double judgment is beset with too many and serious 
difficulties and entanglem.ents to be entertained for a 
single moment. 

IV. Revelation xx. 4-6. 

A consideration of the main scripture upon which the 
whole premillennial theory rests will reveal a similar 
weakness. It is worthy of remark, that the chief and 
only foundation for the whole scheme is the three short 
and obscure verses in the book of Revelation, a book 
abounding in symbols and symbolic imagery. Take these 
away, and the chief support is gone. This fact is alone 
sufficient to shake our confidence in the scheme, and make 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 119 

us hesitate long before embracing a theory beset with dif- 
ficulties. These verses are as follows : 

"4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them ; and I 
saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness 
of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not 
worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had re- 
ceived his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; 
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 

"5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the 
thousand years were finished. This is the first resur- 
rection. 

"6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power; 
but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall 
reign with him a thousand years." 

Whatever else the meaning of these words may be, we 
cannot see where they teach the personal advent of the 
Lord to this earth. There is not a single word on that 
subject; "nothing of the Messiah's reign on earth," as 
Professor Stuart affirms; nothing is said about his com- 
ing to this earth, or his reigning on earth ; not one word 
concerning the removal of his throne from heaven, and 
its re-establishment upon earth. 

We must not confound the words ''reign on earth" in 
Chapter v. 10 with what is here said. That was a dif- 
ferent scene and a different occasion. That was before 
the rapture ; this after the revelation. That was the say- 
ing of the four and twenty elders and four living 
creatures, representatives of all the redeemed in heaven 
and earth; this simply of the martyrs, who had been be- 
headed, and who had not been defiled with the beast. 
The description and attendent circumstances are entirely 
too different to make them the same. That the saints 



120 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

are to reign on earth we doubt not, as we believe this to 
be their future abode, as all other worlds the home of 
their several inhabitants ; but that will be an eternal reign, 
and after the final judgment, something grander and far 
more glorious than a mere Millennial reign. 

You will notice, too, the peculiarity of the language 
in these verses. It is not such as we would expect in a 
simple rehearsal of facts. It forms part of a vision, and 
we see no reason why we may not receive this, as other 
apocalyptic scenes, more as a picture than a reality, and 
therefore to be interpreted symbollically. 

In the vision herein mentioned, John tells us what he 
saw. He saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
judgment given them, but does not tell us where those 
thrones were located, whether in heaven or in earth; 
nor who sat upon them, whether angels, apostles or men ; 
nor the character of the judgment, whether favorable or 
adverse. All here must be inferential. 

Moreover, he tells us that he saw souls, and whose 
souls they were ; namely, of them that had been beheaded ; 
but says nothing about bodies. The gloss that souls 
stand for persons, as the seventy souls in the house of 
Jacob, and the two hundred and seventy-six souls with 
Paul in the ship, stand for so many" persons, is wholly 
inadmissible. If he had simply said souls, without any 
qualifying word, the explanation might stand. But 
"souls of beheaded people" would hardly mean the peo- 
ple themselves any more than the head or limbs of be- 
headed people would mean the living people. No one 
thinks of resurrected martyrs in the vision in the fifth 
seal, where John saw the souls of them that had been 
slain. The very interrogation, ''How long, O Lord?" 
shows they were still in a disembodied state. If souls 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 121 

there, why not souls here? The quahfying words "Of 
those beheaded" show that only a part of the persons was 
seen, and that part, their souls. Wherein, then, comes 
the idea of a resurrection? 

Admit that the expression means the persons, and the 
question at once comes up, who were those persons ? You 
will notice not a word is said about any saints, only 
martyrs. Where, then, is the authority for saying that 
all the sainted dead were raised, as premillennialists af- 
firm? To make the expression, ''Of the beheaded," mean 
not only the martyrs, but all the sainted dead, is a strange 
abuse of terms. Indeed, a strict and literal construction 
would not only confine it to martyrs, but to those of a 
particular class — only those who were beheaded, and not 
those stoned, or sawn asunder, or put to death in any 
other way; and not only those who had been beheaded, 
but only those beheaded on account of their testimony 
for Jesus, in not ''worshipping the beast," these last 
words representing not so much a different class as a 
different characteristic of the same class ; thus limiting 
it to martyrs after the rapture ; since, according to their 
theory, the beast is not to appear till after that event; 
and therefore only the few who were beheaded after the 
rise of the beast, and during the tribulation period, were 
declared fit to reign with Christ on earth. According to 
this, not one of all the martyrs of the Old Testament, 
nor of New Testament times ; neither Isaiah, nor Stephen, 
nor James, nor any of the thousand martyrs up to the 
time of the Saviour's first coming at the rapture, will be 
there, for only the martyrs raised after the appearance of 
the beast were the ones John saw sitting upon thrones. 
The premillennialist must either change the time of the 
appearing of the beast, or make it antedate the time of the 



122 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

rapture ; or else make the words, ''the souls of them that 
were beheaded for the witness, and for the word of God, 
and which had not worshipped the beast," mean, not 
only all the sainted dead, but also all the saints then and 
now living, and all saints and martyrs yet to come, 
neither of which would be allowable by his theory. 

Then concerning this reigning ''on earth." We re- 
peat, by way of emphasis, that the interjecting of these 
words is entirely gratuitous, not being in the copy. No 
torture of language can make the words, "reign with 
the Lord," mean reign on earth. Dr. Rutledge says, 
"Reign in heaven, but over earth." The very fact that 
they were to reign with him determines the position of 
the throne. That throne was in heaven, for John saw it 
there at the commencement of his vision ; and if in heaven 
at the first of the vision, and no account of its removal, 
and if Jesus be there, and if the souls of the martyrs be 
there, as well as all the souls of all the sainted dead, then 
the proper place for these martyrs to reign with him, if at 
all, would seem to be in heaven, and not on earth. This 
would also be in strict accord with the statement of the 
Master, "If I come again, I will receive you to myself, 
that where I am ye may be also." That is, ye may be 
with me where I am, and not I am to be with you where 
you are. 

If there be one word in the above verses about Christ 
coming back to earth after he has once taken up his peo- 
ple to himself, or raising up anybody that has been dead, 
we have utterly failed to see it. 

The question then becomes very pertinent, what the 
meaning of the phrases, "the first resurrection" and "the 
rest of the dead not living again until the end of the 
thousand years"? Is there no impUed resurrection here? 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 123 

We answer, Yes. But what kind of a resurrection? 
What, and who, raised up? when and for what purpose? 
Concerning this resurrection I remarlc: 
J, That this is not a resurrection from, or out of, the 
dead, the preposition (^x) being wanting in the Greek, 
and therefore a different species of resurrection from that 
which they so much insist upon, to prove the antedating 
of one resurrection before the other. 

2, The use of the word ( Ca«>" ) to Hve, instead of 
( avc(Ttr]/j.i ) to resurrect, Hkewise raises a doubt as to the 
Hteralness of the resurrection; the meaning seeming 
rather to be more of a continued and flourishing life 
than a coming to Hfe again, the one class living and flour- 
ishing, and the other not living and flourishing till after 
the thousand years. 

3, The expression, "rest of the dead" (not of those 
yet to die), must mean either the rest of the righteous 
dead, beside the martyrs, or else the wicked dead. If 
the rest of the righteous, then, as they are to live at the 
end of the thousand years, there must be two resurrec- 
tions of the righteous, of which the scriptures say 
nothing, and which the premillennialists themselves deny. 
So, if it means the wicked at the time of the Millennium, 
that would likewise make two resurrections of the wicked, 
one at the end of the thousand years, and the other at the 
final judgment, which they also deny. To make it mean 
all the wicked to the end of the world is to confound the 
thousand years with the last day, for wdiich there is no 
authority in the scriptures, the final restoration clearly 
being when the new heavens and new earth shall be set 
up. The rest of the dead, then, must mean the wicked 
dead at the time of the raised martyrs, and not those yet 
to die ; and if so, they are the ones to come to life again 



124 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

at the end of the thousand years, and which resurrection 
must not be confounded with that of the wicked dead at 
the end of the world. 

4, Further, as there are but two classes of the dead 
mentioned in the preceding portions of the book, namely, 
one of the martyrs, and the other the slain enemies men- 
tioned in the close of the preceding chapter, these must 
be the ores to come to life again. If the first resurrection 
refers to the former, then naturally the second resurrec- 
tion would likewise refer to the second class, namely, the 
wicked slain. 

5, The resurrection is to be followed by a reign which 
is to continue only a thousand years. Why this limita- 
tion? There is absolutely nothing in the law or the pro- 
phets, or ceremonies, or teachings of the Old Testament, 
or the experience of believers, to explain such an episode 
in the kingly reign of Christ. The interpretation is con- 
trary to all analogy. Scriptural analogy teaches a Millen- 
nium of rest, and not of rule. Besides, how reconcile this 
idea of a limited reign with the common teaching, that we 
are to reign forever (with Christ? 

6, Then over whom are the saints to reign? The lan- 
guage is simply "reign with Christ." But Christ reigns 
over nature — over mind and matter — over devils — over 
saints — over the wicked. Are we to understand that the 
resurrected martyrs are to rule over all these, and that 
only for a thousand years? — and that, too, with a rod of 
iron, with the greatest severity? Surely the interpretation 
is beset with unending entanglements. 

7, If the verses above considered, singly and alone, say 
nothing about Christ coming back a second time to reign 
on earth, and nothing about the bodies of martyrs being 
raised up, and nothing about the fate of those raised to 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 125 

life at the end of th^j thousand years, this resurrection 
not being confounded with that at the end of the world, 
we must seek another interpretation than that given by 
premillennialists ; and we are thus forced to construe the 
language figuratively, and, like the rest of the book, 
make the resurrection a resurrection of the martyr spirit ; 
and as Elias was raised and lived in John the Baptist, 
who had come in his spirit and power; as the beast that 
was wounded was said to live in his successor; as the 
two witnesses who had been slain lived again in those 
who followed them; and as Huss and Jerome were said 
by Pope Adrian to be living in the person of Martin 
Luther, so the dead martyrs could well be said to be 
alive, and live in those who should come after. And 
what is true of the martyred dead would also be true of 
the "rest of the dead," or wicked dead ; they, too, would 
come to life, and live in the persons of the wicked who 
were to live after the thousand years. 

The interpretation, then, would be that, with the re- 
straining of Satan's power, the spirit of the martyrs 
would return and be honored, hence represented as reign- 
ing upon thrones, and thus described as "blessed," and 
holy; and that, after the thousand years, with the loosing 
of Satan, the former spirit of worldiness would return 
and live again, to dominate the world for a while; the 
return of the martyr spirit being denominated "the first 
resurrection," in contradistinction to the return of the 
opposite spirit, which would be the second resurrection. 

We understand, then, the whole passage to teach that 
there is to be a literal chiliad of righteousness and peace. 
We interpret the thousand years literally ; for there seems 
to be a different nomenclature used in prophetic count 
from that of common years. Prophetic years are given 



126 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

m symbols, as so many months, weeks, days, and hours. 
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people." "Forty- 
two months," the time of the beast's reign. So "time, 
times and a half time" the period of the woman in the 
wilderness. As the outspoken number 666 is to be un- 
derstood literally, so here we interpret the thousand years 
literally. Elliott well remarks, no scheme of prophecy but 
has a commingling of the natural and figurative. Our 
understanding, therefore, is, that there is to be a glorious 
time ahead of the church, even here on earth, set forth 
under the sabbatic year of old, and to precede the final 
jubilee of heaven, and heralded in the prophetic an- 
nouncement of the little stone filling the whole earth, and 
the leaven leavening the whole mass, a time foretold in 
glowing strains by the old prophets. Not that every- 
body will be converted and become true believers ; for the 
wheat and tares are to grow together to the end ; the 
same appearing in the admixture of good and evil in the 
seven churches ; but simply that all organized opposition 
will be done away with, the principles of the gospel 
being in the ascendency. The church shall dominate 
the world by the dissemination of her principles, and 
Christ recognized as supreme. After the thousand years 
Satan shall again be loosed for a season, and the world 
again be corrupt. How long, we know not. Hence the 
Master's words, "When the Son of man shall come will 
he find faith upon the eartTi"? "As in the days of NoaTi, 
they were eating and drinking .... so shall it be at the 
end of the world." And then, in his own time, for of 
that day and hour no man knoweth, the Lord shall come 
in power and great glory, to wind up the affairs of this 
world, and give to every man as his work shall be. 
The interpretation we here ofifer of this difficult pas- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 127 

sage is the one usually held, and/in the main, the one held 
by postmillennarians. To the writer it appears the most 
rational, and in accord with the symbolistic character of 
the book, and other portions of the scriptures. Whether 
this be the correct one or not, we do not see how it is 
possible to bear the construction put upon it by the pre- 
millennialist. 

Having pointed out some of the glaring contradictions 
and inconsistencies of the premillennial theory, its utter 
want of coherence, and the little support it receives from 
the main passage upon which its advocates especially re- 
ly, I now proceed to give other considerations for its re- 
jection. 

V. Other Considerations. 

I, It directly antagonizes the scripture teachings as to 
the time of the second coming. We have clearly been put 
on guard against the delusive notion that that coming was 
near at hand. "Take heed that no man deceive you," 
says the Master. "For many shall come in my name, 
saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many; but the 
end is not yet." (Matt. xxiv. 4-6.) So Paul: "That ye 
be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by 
spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that 
the day of Christ is at hand." (2 Thess. ii. 2.) 

Three things are declared necessary before that event, 
(i). The preaching of the gospel in all the world, for 
a witness unto all nations (Matt. xxiv. 14). (2), The 
restoration of the Jews, with the bringing in of the ful- 
ness of the Gentiles (Rom. ii. 25). (3), The falling 
away, and the revelation of the Man of Sin (2 Thess. ii. 
2), neither of which they claim as yet has happpened. It is 
an indisputable fact, that the majority of the world is still 



128 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

in the depth of heathenish darkness, never having heard 
of Christ. We see as yet no signs of the fulness of the 
Gentiles being brought in, or of the conversion of the 
Jews ; and according to their own theory, the Man of sin 
will not be revealed till after the rapture. With what 
propriety, then, can they say that this coming is immi- 
nent, and urge us to accept their statement as true, that 
he may come at any moment, when they themselves are 
compelled to admit that neither of these necessary things 
has yet happened? To say that all these things will oc- 
cur after the rapture, and before the revelation, is but to 
assume one of the points in dispute, that he can come 
before his second coming, and yet can come but once, 
which we stoutly deny. 

For further confirmation of this view, we have only to 
point to the declaration of the Apostle Peter on the day of 
Pentecost, "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my 
right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Acts 
ii. 34, 35.) The time is thus definitely fixed — ^till his 
foes are all made his footstool. Are his foes all yet sub- 
dued? So in Hebrew x. 12, 13, "But this man, after he 
had offered one sacrififice for sins, forever sat down on 
the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till 
his enemies be made his footstool." Can anything be 
plainer than that he is to remain at the right hand of the 
Father until his enemies are all subdued, which will not 
be till after the millennium? Yet in the face of all this, 
we are told that his coming is imminent, and we may 
be looking for him at any moment! 

2, It likezvise antagonises the general teachings of the 
Scriptures as to the finished character of the Saviour's 
zvork at his appearing. The appearing and the judgment 
are everywhere closely conjoined in the Scriptures. Pre- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 129 

millennialists divorce this union by interjecting the Mil- 
lennium between the two. We are taught that, when he 
comes, he will come to wind up the affairs of this world. 
When he came first, he came to set aside the Jewish dis- 
pensation, and to set up the Christian; so he will come 
again to set aside the Christian and set up the heavenly. 
In connection with the last commission, to make disciples 
of all nations, is the promise, ^'Lo I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world." To the end of the 
world; that is, till he shall come again, clearly implying 
that, when he shall come again, the gospel and living 
ministry, and all the means of grace, shall cease ; nothing 
being said about any other gospel or other means or 
agencies. The present order of things is to continue only 
until he comes. The theory of the premillennialists re- 
quires a continuation of these things after his coming. 

So also with regard to those whom he is to bring with 
him at his coming. He is to bring all his saints. There 
are to be no additions after his coming. ^'Christ, the first 
fruits, afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming." 
The church will then be complete. The Scriptures say 
nothing about receiving a part before and a part after his 
coming. He is to bring his holy angels and all his saints 
with him, to be admired, not by a part, but by all. No- 
body to be saved, nobody added, after he comes. Accord- 
ing to premillennialism, there are to be additions of the 
tribulation saints and others during and after the Mil- 
lennium. 

3, It antagonises what Peter says about the destruction 
of the world. He distinctly asserts that that destruction 
will take place at his coming. In answering the question 
of the scoffers, ''Where is the promise of his coming?" 
he says, "That the day of the Lord will come as a thief in 



130 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a 
loud noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat." Peter says nothing about reigning on earth, or 
waiting a thousand years before this destruction ; but the 
time for it will be at his coming, — which will be as a 
thief in the night, — on the day in which he comes, and 
which is to usher in the new heaven and new earth, in 
which righteousness is to dwell. We leave it with the 
premillennialist to reconcile their teachings with these 
unequivocal declarations of the Apostle Peter. They 
must either flatly contradict the apostle, or else make all 
this refer to the Millennium, which is simply to confound 
the Millennium with the final state of glory. Which 
will they choose? 

4, It makes an unwarranted distinction between the 
church and the kingdom, and asserts that that kingdom 
"svill not be till the Millennium; whereas the scriptures 
everywhere speak of the kingdom as already set up, and 
all are urged to press into it. Daniel clearly tells when 
the kingdom was to be set up : not later than the fourth 
monarchy. 'Tn the days of these kings shall the God 
-of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be de- 
stroyed." (Dan. ii. 44.) The time for the setting up of 
that kingdom is therefore past. To say it is yet to be set 
up is to contradict Daniel. 

So the sayings of the Saviour, "There hath not risen 
a greater than John the Baptist; notwithstanding, he 
that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." 
(Matt. xi. II.) "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
"The kingdom is near you, even within you." "Not far 
from the kingdom." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
and his righteousness." "There be some standing here, 
who shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 131 

coming in his kingdom." (Matt. xvi. 28.) All of these 
show that the kingdom was near at hand, even in touch 
with the peoDle of that generation, and therefore already 
in existence. 

We presume Paul knew what he was saying when he 
said, ''Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, 
and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Sonf 
(Col. i. 13.) Also John, when he said, "1, John, who also 
am your brother and companion in tribulation, and in 
the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ." Both of 
these saints, while in life, declared they were already in 
the kingdom, and yet we are told that that kingdom will 
not be set up till the Millennium ! 

In the second Psalm we have the prophetic announce- 
ment, "I do set my king upon my holy hill of Zion," and 
the command to acknowledge and serve him. If the 
kingdom is not yet set up, then this double anomaly pre- 
sents itself. On the one hand, of Christ being a king, so 
appointed of the Father, with all power in heaven and 
earth, and authority to rule, and yet no kingdom over 
which to rule. On the other, of requiring men to serve 
a king who was not a king, thereby absolving from all ob- 
ligation to own allegiance to his throne, or press into his 
kingdom, until it shall be shown that that kingdom was 
fully established. The theory is clearly chargeable with 
confounding the setting up of the kingdom with the full 
establishment and recognition of it. We agree with them 
that the kingdom is not yet established, in the sense of 
full recognition on earth as in heaven ; but we utterly re- 
pudiate the idea that it is not yet set up. For if it be not 
set up on earth, neither in heaven, and if not in heaven, 
then what means that exaltation to the right hand of the 
Father, the apocalyptic song, and the ascription of such 



132 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

high honor and glory to the Son? If not a king yet on 
earth, neither indeed can he yet be a king in heaven. 
The theory of the premillenniaHst, that the kingdom will 
not be set up till the Millennium, plays sad havoc with the 
old theology we have been taught from childhood, that 
Christ executes his three offices of prophet, priest and 
king ''both in his state of humiliation and exaltation." 
And also the typical teachings, which make the portion 
of the land on the east side of the river Jordan typical of 
the part of the kingdom on earth, and the part on the 
west side typical of the part of the kingdom in heaven, 
the Jordan being the type of death, and, like the tribes of 
old, we must all enter the one before entering the other. 
Clearl}^, if we die out of the kingdom, we will ever con- 
tinue out. So says the type ; for how seek it after we are 
dead ? 

Then notice the conflict as to the progressive nature 
of the kingdom. Daniel speaks of it at first as "a little 
stone," but to become the mountain and fill the earth. 
Their theory requires that the kingdom be large and full- 
fledged at the start. The Saviour speaks of it as 'little 
leaven" ; that is, it is to work silently and gradually till 
the whole mass is leavened. But they give us to under- 
stand that the kingdom cometh as a whirlwind, with 
judgments and earthquakes, and even mighty convul- 
sions in nature, with the whole constitution and course 
of nature changed, and changed at the beginning and set- 
ting up of that kingdom. The description of the king- 
dom by Daniel and the Saviour, and the account of it 
given by the premillennialists, both as to time and pro- 
gress, are wonderfully divergent! 

To break the force of the argument from the expan- 
siveness of leaven, premillennialists take the leaven in the 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 133 

parable to represent evil, and the interpretation they give 
of this famihar passage is, that evil in the church, like 
leaven, will spread till it corrupts the whole. But this 
seems clearly a perversion; for, as Alford says, "If the 
progress of the kingdom of heaven be towards corrup- 
tion, till the whole is corrupted, surely there is an end of 
all the blessings and healing influence of the gospel on 
the world." (Com. in Loc.) Trench gives the common, 
and common-sense view, when he says, "We cannot con- 
sider these words, 'till the whole he leavened,' as less 
than a prophecy of a final complete triumph of Christi- 
anity; that it will, diffuse itself through all nations, and 
purify and ennoble all Hfe." (Par., p. loi.) 

5, It robs prophecy of its witnessing power, by placing 
the whole of it in the future. If the prophecy be not pre- 
dictive, as Professor MilHgan asserts, p. 188, and as Dr. 
Ramsay assumes as the basis of his interpretation, in his 
"Spiritual Kingdom" ; and these things be not fulfilled till 
after his coming, then there will be no special necessity 
for them at all. Neither can we understand why such 
minute descriptions of things in such unintelligible lan- 
guage, if all be in the future. If no part is to be fulfilled 
till be comes, the prophecy would mean no more than this : 
that Jesus is coming, and just wait till he comes, and he 
will tell us in plain words what he is now saying in unin- 
telligible symbols. Professor Stuart, as it seems to us, 
strikes the keynote when he says, ' There must be historic 
existences connected with such a series of symbols." 

6, It temporarily robs the world of the mediatorial work 
of Christ. It is the creed of Christendom, that he is gone 
to heaven to finish his priestly, an3 enter upon his kingly 
work, as already stated. That he is in heaven, the in- 
dwelling Spirit abundantly testifies. If it were expedient 



134 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

at first that he should ascend to heaven, it is equally ex- 
pedient that he should remain there still. The author 
of the Epistle to the Hebrews labors to prove this very 
point. He distinctly asserts that if he were on earth he 
could not be a priest. (Chap. viii. 4.) There is a part 
of his priestly function that can be performed only in 
heaven. Under the Aaronic priesthood, the high priest, 
after offering the sacrifice, then went into the Holy of 
Holies to offer incense. So our High Priest, having of- 
fered himself as a sacrifice, has gone on high, where he 
ever lives, to make intercession for his people. The high 
priests of old never left the precincts of the earthly 
temple. Aaron was always at his post; Eleazer always 
in his place. For our High Priest to leave the heavenly 
courts would be contrary to all analogy, and express ut- 
terances of the word of God. And should he leave his 
high place on high, who would then be the world's inter- 
cessor? Who would be there to take the petitions of his 
people and present them with acceptance at the heavenly 
throne of grace? 

And is there no kingly work for him to perform among 
the angels and saints on high? Who is to occupy his 
throne there, and to receive the adoration and thanks- 
giving and praise of the mighty angelic host ever singing 
the song of Moses and the Lamb? And will he remain 
on earth with all his saints after the Millennium, during 
the re-enthronement of Satan's power? And all this in 
face of the express declaration of scripture, "Whom the 
heavens must receive till the restitution of all things." 
(Acts iii. 21.) 'Tn the regeneration {^aizoy.ara(7Tcw^u)q ), not 
before, said the Saviour, ye shall sit with me." To bring 
him here, to reign on earth, is to bring him back before 
the restitution and making of all things new ; unless we 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 135 

make the Millennium the regeneration and making of all 
things new, which the Scriptures nowhere teach. 

7, It equally brings dishonor upon the work of the 
Spirit. They hesitate not to affirm that the gospel is a 
failure thus far in converting the world to Christ. "A 
perpetual failure," and will "continue a failure till the 
second Adam shall come to enforce the same with his 
judgments," says W. E. B. (p. 26). Apart from what 
might be the divine purpose in the matter, and what will 
be hereafter, the question arises. Whether mere judg- 
ments would secure the end? It is not in the nature of 
judgments alone to lead to repentance. They did not lead 
Pharaoh to repentance, nor King Saul, nor thousands of 
others. Conviction is the sole work of the Spirit; and 
when he fails, judgments will surely fail. All power is 
vested in the Spirit, as all grace and merit in the Son. 
The Son works through the Spirit. It was when the 
Spirit came upon Jesus that he performed those mighty 
works. It was through the Spirit he offered himself a 
sacrifice for sin, and through that same eternal Spirit he 
raised himself from the tomb ; and by that same Spirit he 
is carrying on the affairs of the kingdom. To charge the 
work with failure is to accuse him of the veriest weak- 
ness. 

And, then, why the necessity for the personal presence 
of the Lord on earth? Could he not work through the 
Spirit from heaven as well as on earth? And even if 
necessary for him to speak through judgments, could he 
not do so as well from his throne in the skies as if he 
were here on earth ? Besides, let it not be forgotten that 
Satan is to be loosed again after the Millennium, and the 
nations again deceived by him. Is the world then to wit- 
ness the humiliating spectacle of the King of glory again 



136 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

returning to his throne on high a defeated king, with his 
work after all only partially accomplished, and thus bring 
greater discredit upon himself, as well as additional dis- 
honor to the Spirit? 

8, It defeats in a measure the very object for which the 
judgment is appointed. That object is twofold, (i), 
The vindication of the judge himself. Many hard 
things have been thought and said against the Lord and 
his government. These things have been allowed to pass 
unchallenged, because he hath appointed a day in the 
which he will vindicate himself from all these wicked as- 
persions, and for the revelation of his righteous judgment, 
as the apostle expresses it, in which his creatures will all 
see the righteousness of his acts, and join in the final de- 
cision with a loud and hearty ''Amen." But for the full 
and complete vindication of himself, as well as this reve- 
lation of his righteous judgments, it will be necessary 
for all his creatures to be present, every eye to see him, 
and witness his decisions. Nothing to be covered, but 
everything brought to light. What has been spoken in 
secret is to be proclaimed from the housetop. To keep 
any of his creatures away from that grand tribunal, or 
suppress any of the facts, will just so far defeat the very 
purpose of the appointment. 

(2), A second object of the judgment is the hestozval of 
awards. As a man really Hves in his works, after he is 
dead, like Abel of old, though dead still speaking, and his 
influence,- like the advancing waves of the tumultuous sea, 
will continue to move on and on till they strike the ut- 
most shore, the proper time for the judgment obviously 
will be the last day, when the whole life, with all its re- 
sults, may be gathered up. To bestow the award before 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 137 

that time is simply to judge a man before his works are 
ended. 

9, It presents a false view of the relation of the church 
and tribulation. They tell us that the object of the rap- 
ture is to remove the church from the tribulation to be 
visited upon the earth^ ; then why take a part and leave 
the rest? Why leave the tribulation saints behind? And 
how reconcile this with the words of the intercessory 
prayer, in which the Saviour expressly says, "I pray not 
that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that 
thou shouldest keep them from the evil." (Jno. xvii. 15.) 
So also in the message to the Philadelphian church, *'I 
also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which is 
to come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon 
the earth." (Rev. iii. 10.) Notice, not take them out of 
the world, but keep and shield them while in it. 

Even admitting it a mercy to remove the living, what 
about the dead, and who constitute by far the largest part ? 
Why should they be taken? The tribulation could not 
reach them, nor disturb their repose in the tomb. Why 
raise them up to get them out of trouble, when they are 
not in it, nor affected by it? We hesitate not to affirm 
that this whole idea of taking his people of the world to 
get them out of tribulation is unscriptural, being con- 
trary to the whole scheme of probation. Why take them 
away when the world was made, and they were put here, 
for the very purpose of being tested, tried and purified, 
as gold by fire ? And why the many promises to be with 



^Premillennialists say the great tribulation is yet to come, and 
speak of it as ^^ OXccpst t^^ tribulation. John uses the same lan- 
guage. He says, "Your brother and companion ( c^ -r^ OXt(i>st ) iii 
the tribulation. If yet to come, how could he be in it? Will 
they explain?" 



138 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

them when they go through the fire and deep waters, if 
they are to be removed ? Are these promises only for the 
lesser evils, and not the greater ? And is not God's grace 
sufficient to sustain, as well as save to the very uttermost, 
under any and all circumstances? Why then minimize 
that grace by talking of removal, when it is declared , 
sufficient for every emergency, and the very sending 
of the trial was to show that sufficiency? 

So the promise of the shortening of the tribulation 
days for the elects' sake proves the presence of the elect 
on earth, and in the midst of it all. Why shorten the 
days for the elects' sake and they removed? The whole 
thing smacks entirely too much of the cloister and ascetic- 
ism of medieval times for the Christian enlightenment of 
this age and generation. 

10, Moreover, we reject the theory because of the short- 
ness of the time given for the fulfilment of the prophe- 
cies. They crowd into one short period of half a week of 
years, or three and a half years, which is their tribulation 
period, all that is included in the rapture, the seals, the 
trumpets, the vials, the two beasts, all the different vials 
of judgments, the rise of Antichrist, his deceiving the 
-nations, practising his arts, shedding of blood to the ex- 
tent of being drunk therewith, all this in the short space 
of three and a half years ! The time, even allowing Dr. 
Seiss' seventy years, seems entirely too short for all of 
this. And the long delay in the appearing of Antichrist, 
whom they say is a man; and contrary to the general 
rules of interpretation in thus applying the prophecy to 
an individual, and not to a kingdom or power. How a 
mere man could begin to work in Paul's day, some eigh- 
teen hundred years before his birth, is something we can 
neither comprehend, nor do they undertake to explain. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 139 

Apart from the marvel of the thing, it does seem to us 
that the long delay in his coming is out of all proportion 
with the rest of the scheme. So with the slaying of the 
witnesses. They insist upon a literal three and a half 
days, and yet it is asserted that "kindreds and tongues and 
nations shall see their dead bodies three and a half days." 
"And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over 
then, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to an- 
other." How they can do all that in three and a half 
days, we leave them to explain. 

11, We reject the theory because it necessitates addi- 
tional revelation. In replying to the question, "How will 
men be saved during the Millennium," and what the 
means of grace? W. E. B. says, "It is just as consistent 
that we shall receive an additional revelation to the word 
of God, when he comes, as it was when he came before"^ 
(p- 73) > ^^^ thus not only requiring an addition to the 
canon, but even the return of the Saviour to complete 
his prophetical work. Surely a cause must be hard 
pressed to require such a resort as this. In striking con- 
trast with this supposed necessity for additional revelation, 
we place the ringing words of the Master himself, "If 
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be 
persuaded, though one rose from the dead." 

12, We reject the theory because of the unnatural plac- 
ing of the resurrection at the rapture a thousand years or 
more before men cease either to be born or to die. How 
much more reasonable, satisfactory, and scriptural the 
view which places the resurrection after the Millennium, 
and in connection with the closing scenes, introducing the 
new heavens and the new earth? 

■^Dr. Rutledge holds the same view ("p. 566). 



140 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

13, We reject the theory because it nessitates the com- 
ing of another, or a second coming of the same Anti- 
christ. In the preceding pages we have shown clearly, as 
we think, that one Antichrist has already come in the 
tripartite form of Rome, Pagan, Christian and Papal. 
Is another yet to come? And will the second, when he 
does come, match the description any better? Will he be 
an improved and more complete Antichrist? — ^more ter- 
rible in his nature, and shed more innocent blood, than the 
triune monster of iniquity already described? 

Of Babylon, it is said, ''And in her was found the 
blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain 
upon the earth." (Chap, xviii. 24.) If another great 
apostasy, or enemy, is yet to arise, call it Babylon, Man 
of sin. Antichrist, woman on a beast, or what else you 
please, how will it be possible for him to He guilty of 
the blood already shed? 

Furthermore, their theory requires that he is to take the 
city, pollute the sanctuary, and set up the abomination. 
But this has already been done. Jerusalem has long since 
been taken, the temple destroyed, and the abomination 
that maketh desolate been set up for centuries. Is all this 
to be repeated, the temple rebuilt, and the abomination set 
up a second time? 

14, We reject the theory because it imposes an unnat- 
ural and impossible condition of prayer. We are expressly 
commanded to pray, "Thy kingdom come." If the king- 
dom here spoken of be the Millennial kingdom, to be es- 
tablished on earth by the personal advent of the Lord, to 
pray thy kingdom come is simply to pray that Christ 
vv^ould come at once, and change the living and raise the 
dead, and immediately proceed with the visitation upon 
the wicked of the threatened judgments contained in the 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 141 

trumpets and vials. How many of God's people, think 
you, would yet be able to offer such a petition, asking to 
be removed at once? Not one in a thousand. Why then 
impose such an impossible condition upon the consciences 
of God's people? Where is the authority for such a 
prayer, when he has clearly called us and sent us forth as 
laborers in his vineyard, and cautioned us against this 
very thing, of idly waiting his coming? And how recon- 
cile it with that other petition, "Pray ye the Cord of the 
harvest to send forth more laborers into the harvest"? 
See the conflict ! With one breath we are to pray for an 
increase of laborers, and with the next for the immediate 
coming of Christ, and removal of the laborers, ourselves, 
and all his people, both dead and living, out of the world ! 
What is the use of the first petition at all, if Christ is to 
come and set up his kingdom by the direct exercise of his 
power and overawing influence of his presence? 

15, We reject the theory because it presents a viezv of 
the Millennium entirely different from that given in the 
word of God, and as held by the church in all ages. 
Premillennialists speak of it as a "continued judgment,"® 
whereas the scriptures everywhere represent it as a time 
of unwonted favor, with the power of Satan curtailed, 
and the Spirit most graciously bestowed. Premillennial- 
ists speak of it as a "failure," so far as the gospel is con- 
cerned, whereas the sacred writers speak in the most ex- 
ulting strains of the wonderful triumph of the gospel, 
as exhibiting its power to elevate, transform and save ; 
as making the wilderness to become a fruitful field, and 
the earth to bud and blossom as the rose ; as a time when 
the nations shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and 
their spears into pruning hooks, and learn war no more. 

«TF. E. B., p. 68. 



142 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

It is impossible for us to reconcile their sad and gloomy 
views with the bright, cheerful and glowing descriptions 
of the prophets. The prophets would encourage us with 
the sweetest assurances that the gospel is yet to triumph 
over all the earth, and that, as the hammer and fire, under 
the influences of the Spirit it can break and subdue the 
hardest heart. If the gospel be so inefficient as they af- 
firm, what have the poor missionaries, and those labor- 
ing so sacrificingly for the conversion of the world, to 
look~to for comfort? If the judgments of God be the only 
thing to tear down the strongholds of Satan, instead of 
hazarding their lives, and wasting their energies in a hope- 
less undertaking, it would be far better for them to sur- 
render their credentials at once, and spend the rest of the 
time in praying for the speedy coming of impending 
judgments, and the sooner the coming the better! A Mil- 
lennium of triumph is clearly the fulfillm.en't of Daniel's 
little stone becoming the mountain and filling the whole 
earth. Take away the idea of final triumph, and you at 
once destroy the uniqueness of the scheme, as well as 
rob the gospel and the Spirit of all their accredited power 
as agents for the accomplishment of so grand and glorious 
an end. 

1 6, We reject the theory because it faUs to define the 
position of the resurrected saints during the rapture. 
Caught up in the air for seven years ! Why exactly seven 
years? What authority for this in Scripture? What 
analogy or typical allusion to corroborate the same? Then 
what the location or position of the raptured saints? 
They are not in Hades, for they have been snatched from 
that place ; not in Paradise, for Paradise is this side of the 
resurrection, as shown by the words of the Saviour to 
the dying thief ; nor in heaven, for heaven is the place of 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY, 143 

final awards, and these are not yet distributed. If, then, 
not in Hades, or Paradise, or heaven, what region or 
cHme in the celestial planisphere are they to occupy? Dr. 
Rutledge says, "The heavenlies," — the place from whence 
he asserts the dragon is to be cast after the rapture, and 
where he must be just now. It strikes us as a strange in- 
congruity that Satan is to vacate his seat for the saints. 
The heavenlies ! We candidly confess, that is a new di- 
vision or district in God's empire of which we have never 
heard before, and of which the Scriptures say nothing. 
If the air overhead simply is to be the stopping place in 
this rapture, then that air must be the permanent abode 
of the saints, for they are to be forever with the Lord, in 
the place to which first taken. 

17, We reject the theory because it demands the un- 
natural commingling of things earthly and things celes- 
tial — ^of beings mortal and beings immortal — of two sorts 
of Millennial saints, part perfect and part imperfect, part 
glorified and part unglorified ; and likewise the unpeo- 
pling of heaven, or else the division of the kingdom and 
throne, a part on earth and a part in heaven ! If the 
saints are to be raised up, with what bodies will they 
come? And what the relation to the living? If any, 
what the character of the association? Mortals and im- 
mortals mixed up ! Will the latter live in houses or in the 
air? Will they be visible or invisible? If visible, wherein 
dififer from others? If invisible, what the use of the 
earthly reign ? And, then, what their employment ? Will 
they be angels of mercy sent lorth to minister to the 
heirs of salvation, or, bent on vengeance, will they go 
forth as God's messengers, in the execution of his pur- 
poses of wrath upon the wicked, and at the same time as 
"shepherdizers," as Dr. Seiss informs us, to lord it over 



144 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

their less fortunate brethren still struggling in the flesh? 
And, then, are they to remain on earth after the Millen- 
nium until the end? or ascend into heaven? And at the 
last judgment, will these Millennial saints have equal hon- 
ors with the raptured ones, and sit as co- judges with 
them_; or will the latter occupy higher seats, and be in- 
vested with special supernal honors, by virtue of their 
priority in the resurrection? 

1 8, Then, lastly, we reject the theory because of its af- 
aiiations and associations. Its companionships In the past 
have been anything but desirable. It not only furnishes 
an ample field for visionary schemes and fanciful inter- 
pretation of the scriptures, but, true to its proclivities, 
has also given birth to the wildest extravagancies, both 
in practice and belief. Witness the rugged asceticism, 
as well as assumptive claims to prophecy, of the Montan- 
Ists of the second century, who stirred up so large a part 
of the world under the delusion of the Saviour's Imme- 
diate appearing. Witness the still greater fanaticism of 
the people of this country, who, under the teaching of 
William Miller, In 1844 were wrought up to the highest 
pitch of religious frenzy over the Idea of the sudden com- 
ing of Christ. Still more recently, witness the "Christ 
craze" of the colored people of Liberty countv, Georgia, 
in i88q, who, believing that Christ had alreadv come in 
the person of one Dupont Bell, neglected their farms and 
ceaseff from every sort of business, and frantically fol- 
lowed their leader from dav to dav, expecting soon to 
be taken up to Paradise. Interpret the Millennium to 
mean a personal coming, and temporal rule. Instead of 
gospel triumph and a peaceful spiritual relen, and set the 
time for that comlne, and the world Is liable to witness 
just such scenes at any time. 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 145 

And then, what fanciful interpretations and wild deduc- 
tions from Scripture! Says a recent writer, ''Imagine 
Paul acting under Immanuel as president of the Uniteu 
States, Peter king of England, James superceding the 
Czar of Russia, John as emperor of China, Bartholomew 
succeeding to the throne of Kaiser William of Germany. 
Imagine the guileless Nathaniel as president of the turbu- 
lent French Republic. How about John Wesley for 
mayor of London, or the immortal dreamer, John Bun- 
yan, as mayor of Paris? How would D. L. Moody do 
for Chicago's chief officer? Or Jonathan Edwards for 
Greater New York?"^ And even such a man as Dr. 
Rutledge, with all his intelligence and learning, indulging 
in the fanciful conceit that Antichrist will "probably be 
killed by the explosion of a bomb \^^. 

If a tree is to be judged by its fruit, and a man known 
by the company he keeps, and these and similar vagaries 
be the legitimate fruitage and social concomitants of the 
scheme, we feel fully warranted in setting it aside, more 
as the work of human devising than the teaching of the 
Spirit. ''But the end of all things is at hand, be ye there- 
fore sober." Christian sobriety, and not fanaticism, is the 
inspired coupling with the coming of the Lord. 

Enough has been said to show the utter inconsistency 
and unscripturalness of the premillennial theory. While 
truth is ever in harmony with itself, error is always con- 
tradictory, and in its very contradictions furnishes evi- 
dence for its own conviction. The theory, as we have en- 
deavored to show, is so disjointed and out of harmony 
with itself and everything around it, and so interjected 
and overburdened with fancies and whims of its own, as 
to leave behind endless problems and questions, which it 

"Pickett's Bible Hope, p. 162. ^"^P. 203. " 



146 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

can neither remove nor satisfactorily explain. Thus, 
as we have seen, it fails to tell us why there should be a 
Millennial reign on earth, and if a Millennium, why the 
seventh thousand? And why a continuance of judgment 
and not of gospel triumph and peace? Why rule with a 
rod of iron, and not a sceptre of mercy, while Satan is 
chained? How death can be destroyed at the resurrec- 
tion, and yet continue till the last judgment? It has not 
explained, neither can it explain, why the Saviour should 
temporarily leave his throne on high, abandon his priestly 
work, reign only so long on earth, and leave the world 
again to Satan's rule. Neither can they tell us what is the 
object, and what accomplished by this temporary reign on 
earth. It does not, nor yet can it explain, why there 
should be such a discrimination among the saints; why 
some should be removed from the coming tribulation, and 
others, including martyrs, should be left in it; and, in- 
deed, why any, especially the dead, be removed at all, 
when the Saviour promised to be with his people when 
called to go through fiery trials, to shield and deliver 
them, as Daniel in the lion's den, and the Hebrew chil- 
dren in the fiery furnace. It fails to explain the problems 
of life and death after the rapture. How the race is to 
perpetuate itself without birth? How there can be birth 
without death, death without a resurrection, and resur- 
rection without a judgment? It does not, nor yet can it 
explain, why such a complete system of symbols, so fully 
and so minutely described, should be given with the dis- 
tinct understanding that they were not to be understood 
till the Saviour should come in person to explain them, 
and thus make them of no use as furnishing evidence of 
the truth of Christianity by their fulfilment. They can- 
not tell why, though hitherto, when in the midst of all 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 147 

the trying vicissitudes through which the church has been 
called to pass, distinct intimations have in every instance 
been given, of the trials about to come upon her, yet here 
should arise in her very bosom a most wonderful and 
marvellous monster, debasing and degrading her, and 
reaching out and blighting with its withering touch the 
fairest portions of earth, and for ages enveloping the 
world as with the pall of death ; and yet not a word, nor 
even a hint ever given by way of warning, as to its ap- 
proach! It fails to tell us how, if Antichrist be a man, 
as they say he is, and yet to come, how he could have 
showed himself eighteen hundred years ago, in Paul's 
day ! — how he is to become guilty of the blood of saints 
and prophets already shed ; or how, if he is to live but 
three and a half years, he will be able to do in so short a 
period all the wonderful things they ascribe to him.^^ It 

"Dr. Seiss places the coming of Antichrist, or Man of Sin, 
after the Paroiisia or rapture; and yet it is the brightness 
of the Parousia ( ttj e-npaysto. r>j? -opou(no? aurou )that is 
to destroy him. Thus, according to the fheory, AnticKrist is 
actually to be destroyed before he comes. What a tissue of incon- 
sistencies ! 

Then there can be coming without personal presence; as the 
coming of the Lord to punish Israel, Isa. xxvi. 21; to smite 
Egypt, Jer. xliii. 11; to destroy Jerusalem, Matt. xxiv. ; to over- 
throw Sardis, Rev. iii. 3 ; in neither of which was there any per- 
sonal presence. 

Two things are mentioned in 2 Thess. ii. 8 to be employed in 
the destructoin "of Antichrist: The first is the "breath of the 
Lord"; that is, his word, or truth; the other, the "brightness of 
his coming." It is not, then, his personal presence. But the 
brightness of his coming, in connection with his preached word, 
that is to destroy him. Our understanding of this passage, upon 
w^hich they so much rely, is that, in connection with th'e preach- 
ing of his word, the very brightness of his coming, lik'e the light 
that precedes the rising sun, will be so great as to overwhelm or 
destroy him, even in advance of his actual coming. 



148 HAND-BOOK OF PROPHECY. 

fails to tell us of the fate of Millennial saints, and those 
who shall live after that event, whether thev are to be 
raised up, and when? — whether they are to judge or be 
judged, to rule or be ruled? And also what the fate of 
all the living, both good and bad, when the great white 
throne is set up, as they hold that only the wicked dead 
are to be the subjects of that judgment? So it fails to 
explain why not the righteous, but only the postmilliennial 
wicked dead, are to be raised at the last day?; why no 
mention is made before of the sea giving up its dead, in 
previous resurrections ? And if only the wicked are to be 
judged, why mention should be made of "the book of 
life"? 

How different, on the other hand, the postmillennial 
view ! How easy, how simple, how philosophic in all its 
parts ! How consistent with itself and the rest of the 
word of God ! Agreeing with its every teaching and doc- 
trine, and in exact harmony with the hebdomadal idea 
running through the entire scheme of creation and revela- 
tion. The seventh day the Sabbath, the seventh year the 
sabbatic year, and the seventh seventh, the year of jubilee ; 
thus furnishing a reason for a Millennium of peace and 
r-est; and pointing to, and terminating in the jubilistic 
rest of heaven. So the turning Satan loose again, being 
in exact accord with God's deafingswith hispeoplein every 
age, in thus leaving them to themselves after a period of 
success, to show them their utter weakness and depen- 
dence upon him; as Israel at Ai, Elijah in the cave, Peter 
at the judgment hall, and David confronted with the try- 
ing problem of the three evils. 

So the present and past history of the world is in full 
accord with all the appointments of prophecy, thus fur- 
nishing indisputable proof of Scripture, everything show- 



HAND-BOOK OF PROPHFXY. 149 

ing the certain triumph of the gospel and speedy approach 
of the glorious time when the little stone shall become the 
mountain and fill the earth, and his kingdom shall extend 
from shore to shore — and is only awaiting the seed 
sowing, the accumulation of prayer, and the final out- 
pouring of the Spirit, when the last upheaval shall take 
place, bringing in the final and universal establishment 
of the gospel kingdom, when the angel with the trumpet 
shall proclaim in thunder tones that the kingdoms of this 
world have become the kingdom of our Lord and his 
Christ. As the Son of man came not in person to de- 
stroy Jerusalem, neither will he come at last to bind the 
tares, but commit that to his angels. His work on earth 
is done; the days of his humiliation ended. He will re- 
main seated upon his heavenly throne, henceforth ex- 
pecting, until his enemies become his footstool, until the 
kingdom is ready for him, and to the end that the Holy 
Ghost may receive the honor due him as one of the Ador- 
able Trinity — reserving for himself the pomp and gran- 
deur of his final and triumphant entry, when he shall 
come in the chariot of clouds, in great glory, with his 
angels, and bringing his saints with him, to sit upon the 
throne of his glory as judge of all the earth, and when the 
congregated millions of heaven, earth and hell shall stand 
before that august throne, to be judged out of the things 
written in the books. 

We are indeed looking for him to come again, but not 
till Elias and his coadjutors have fully restored all things, 
and his messengers prepared the way before him, and 
the whole world ready to receive her king. Then, and 
not till then, may we look for his coming : 

"Amen ; even so come. Lord Jesus." 



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